Chapter 1702: Noontime Founding Festival with Shallow Vernal ⑨

God of Ocean-san guided us along the streets. She seemed very tense because she was guiding Shiro-san, as God of Ocean-san looked somewhat stiff as she walked along the path.

[Errr, this is the first time we’ve met, right, God of Ocean-san? Nice to meet you, I’m Miyama Kaito.]

[Thank you very much for your courtesy. I’m the God of Ocean, bearing the name Marine. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.]

For the time being, as this is our first meeting, I should greet her lightly. Since she had told me her name, I guess it’s alright for me to call her by her name, so from now on, I’ll call her Marine-san.

Given the current situation where she’s in front of Shiro-san, I could understand why she might be feeling nervous, but I still don’t know much about her personality or character yet. That being said, I think it’s a bit difficult to engage in casual conversation at a time like this, so let’s save that for another time when the opportunity arises.

According to Alice, she’s someone who doesn’t stand out, but from my first impression of her, she doesn’t appear to be that way. No, it’s true that she doesn’t feel like a Sea God, so compared to Sky-san and Gaia-san, it’s certainly difficult to discern what domain she governs based solely on her appearance.

As I was walking, thinking along those lines, I heard lively music from a few distance away. When I turned my attention in that direction, I could see decorative sea dragon models moving on a nearby street.

Ahh, the Sea Dragon Parade started huh…… I don’t plan to see it this time, but even looking at it from a few distance, that sea dragon decoration sure is big. Well, the person they are modeling those decorations from, Eingana-san herself is also quite huge, so in a sense, they’ve reproduced her image quite well.

[……Sea Dragon Parade.]

Her voice really was just a faint whisper, but when I followed the sound and moved my gaze, I noticed that Marine-san had directed her gaze ever so slightly towards the sea dragon decoration.

The expression on her face was still the gentle one, a kind smile on her lips…… but my Sympathy Magic was reading indescribable emotions. Then, keeping the smile on her face, Marine-san muttered quietly.

[……That d*mn sea snake…… Don’t think there’d always be moonlit nights……]

Scary! ……Unnn. It seems like she’s got a lot of thoughts about Eingana-san, who is being treated as the God of the Sea in place of herself.

……Yep, let’s pretend I didn’t hear that. I feel like this is a topic I shouldn’t touch too much.

Guided by Marine-san, we arrived at what could be described as a pier. The atmosphere was just as Shiro-san had requested, offering a breathtaking sight of the sea, with ships visible in the distance.

The fact that there are no people around this place just feels unnatural, but for the time being, I won’t throw a tsukkomi at that. However, those wooden benches that have been placed in such a way that they are clearly suitable for eating lunch while looking at the sea are a little too artificial, don’t you think?

Well, I guess that’s how thorough the support of the Gods is huh. I could sense everyone’s efforts, and at the same time, I could feel just how much difficulty they were facing, stirring something deep within me, making me feel a profound emotion welling up in my eyes.

[Well then, let’s lay out a leisure sheet to eat our lunch.]

[……………………]

And as always, Shiro-san remained unruffled with their support, completely ignoring the conspicuously placed bench, and instead decided to lay out a leisure sheet for us to eat on. I suppose in the situation depicted in the romance manga Shiro-san used as a reference, they were probably having a picnic or something along those lines.

[Ummm, Shiro-san? Wouldn’t a leisure sheet be too rough here?]

However, we aren’t having a picnic in a meadow here. Considering that this place looks like a port town’s wharf, the ground beneath us is pretty solid. In fact, it seems to be a sturdy, concrete-like surface.

It would hurt my feet and butt to sit on a leisure sheet here.

[I see. Now that you mentioned it, the ground certainly isn’t suitable for this.]

[That’s right! So, since they’ve provided them, let’s use the bench———-]

[Well then, I’ll partially “change the ground to grass”.]

Shiro-san, nodding in understanding, lightly waved her hand. Suddenly, the area around the place we were standing transformed into an unnaturally lush green grassy area.

I see, this would certainly be a good place to lay out a leisure sheet and eat lunch. Unnn, errr…… Would you be fine if I throw out one last tsukkomi?

————-No, this is totally not what I was talking about.

<Afterword>

Serious-senpai : [The Airhead God is as airheaded as always. A- Alright, let’s continue with the gag-style story from here on out, okay? It’s fine, right? Right? Yep, being like this is fine…… Just because they’re eating together doesn’t mean they’re gonna flirt, right!? Right!!!?]

? ? ? : [You struggle in vain too much, don’t you think?]