Lucy had sent a new photo. Her swimsuit y draped over the side of the bathtub, and she was completely naked, though her private parts were cleverly concealed, just out of view. Her facial expression—a mix of embarrassment and daring—was enough to make one want to take a pyful bite.

  Nate thought to himself, "Even the dy of the house has fallen, sending such bold photos to tempt me."

  Nate: "I like it, send more!"

  Meanwhile, Lucy, who had just sent the photo, had submerged half her face in cold bathwater, trying to hide her embarrassment.

  'Ah, so humiliating!'

  Blowing bubbles in the water, she gnced at Nate's reply and felt a small twinge of satisfaction.

  'Hmph, I guess I still have my charm.'

  Lucy shook her head, her face flushed. "No, I can't send any more! That was already my limit!"

  Lucy: "100,000 J!"

  Nate: "What 100,000?"

  Lucy: "For the photo you just received!"

  Nate: "Why don’t you go rob someone? Side-eye.jpg"

  Nate: "Besides, I’ve already seen everything without anything in the way. Want me to remind you? Smirk.jpg"

  'Ahhh, shut up! Delete that from your memory!'

  Lucy felt a wave of panic, recalling the accidental incident from before. But the more she thought about it, the more thrilling the conversation felt, her heart racing with excitement.

  Lucy: "I don’t care! I want 100,000! If not, I won’t send any more!"

  Nate: "Your hand was covering it anyway, wasn’t even clear. Side-eye.jpg"

  Nate: "But since we’re good friends, fine, 100,000 it is. Smile.jpg"

  'What do you mean 'fine, 100,000 it is'? So infuriating!'

  Lucy pouted in frustration, feeling the sudden impulse to stand up and take a fully exposed picture. But at the st second, her sense of shame won out, and she quietly sat back down.

  Even though she had a good impression of Nate and he was definitely her type, it was still too embarrassing to take such a photo.

  Lucy: "You still owe me 38.9 million! Those four keys are mine! Knock-head.jpg"

  Nate: "Nice, keep it up! Just take 389 more photos, and you’ll pay it off."

  Lucy: "Not happening! Hmph!"

  Nate: "How about a kiss instead?"

  'A kiss?!'

  Lucy’s eyes widened, her heart pounding like a deer caught in headlights. She had kissed Nate once before—well, more like he had kissed her—and she had been completely unprepared, running away in embarrassment afterward with her mind bnk.

  Even now, recalling that moment made her heart race.

  'No way! Kissing is out of the question!'

  Lucy: "...200,000?"

  Nate: "Dear dy, do you know how much 200,000 J is? That’s three months' rent."

  Lucy’s face turned red, realizing she might have overreached.

  Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.

  Lucy: "How about I do your undry from now on? 100 J per piece of clothing? And I’ll clean your pce too!"

  Nate: "You, a noble dy, doing undry?"

  Lucy: "Ever since I ran away from home, I’ve been doing my own undry! Angry-fire.jpg"

  Nate: "But there are undromats, you know. I take my clothes there, and it only costs 600 J per load."

  Lucy: "Well, it’s worth more if I wash them myself!"

  Nate: "..."

  Lucy: "Please? Pretty please? Puppy-eyes.jpg"

  ...

  Outside a vil, Nate chuckled to himself. Lucy, offering to do his undry, was just too adorable.

  'Maybe I’ve been teasing her too much?'

  He reflected on his actions but found that he couldn't resist—he enjoyed it too much.

  And he suspected Lucy enjoyed it as well, or else why would she send him such bold photos?

  In Nate's view, the debt was just part of their pyful dynamic.

  But Lucy seemed to take it seriously—like she genuinely wanted to pay off her debt.

  'Maybe I should agree to the 200,000 for a kiss?' Nate thought. The kiss wasn’t the point—it was more about giving Lucy a way to "repay" her debt and feel accomplished.

  'Then again, the kiss is important too!'

  Just as he was about to reply, Hibiki approached him.

  Nate quickly closed the private chat.

  "Nate, I found the information on the Urano Metria magic you asked about," Hibiki said.

  "Should I send it directly via ancient text, or upload it to the Magic Net?"

  Nate nodded. "Just compress the information and send it to me directly. Thanks for your help."

  "No need to be so formal. Your Magic Net has been quite helpful to me as well," Hibiki said with a smile, though he looked a bit puzzled.

  "By the way, Urano Metria is an incredibly difficult magic to master. Even for celestial spirit mages, it's almost impossible… or rather, no one has ever successfully mastered it."

  "I have a friend who's a celestial spirit mage. She’ll figure it out," Nate replied confidently, thinking of Lucy.

  Soon after, the information on Urano Metria was transferred directly to Nate’s mind. Unlike system-based knowledge, ancient texts required manual study.

  'Once this mission is over, I’ll teach it to Lucy,' Nate thought. 'Charging her 100 kisses for teaching her super magic isn’t unreasonable, right?'

  At that moment, the door to the vil opened, and Meredy stepped out.

  "Angel has revealed the Oración Seis hideout," she announced.

  ...

  Back at Lucy's apartment, in the bathroom, she grew frustrated that Nate hadn’t replied in a while.

  Hesitating for a moment, she sent another message.

  Lucy: "Alright, fine! How about 150,000 for a kiss?"

  Lucy: "But no one can see us! It has to be just the two of us!"

  Lucy: "Where are you? Confused.jpg"

  Only then did she notice that [Sigma Male] had gone offline.

  But just as quickly, he logged back on.

  A message popped up.

  ["Sigma Male" has sent you a Magic Net delivery. Do you want to accept?]

  Nate: "A kiss from a dy for only 150,000? Let’s make it 200,000!"

  Nate: "Be a good girl and wait for me at home for that kiss. Smirk.jpg"

  Lucy was strangely happy that Nate had upped the price.

  'Wait for you at home for a kiss?' She blushed, feeling both annoyed and flustered.

  'Who’s going to wait for you?'

  Still, she clicked to accept the delivery, and a golden magic circle appeared, revealing four keys in her hand.

  "Gemini, Scorpio, Aries, and Caelum!" Lucy excimed, joyfully gripping the keys.

  'Even though Nate teases me, he’s really good to me,' Lucy thought, feeling warmth in her heart.

  She could tell Nate liked her, at least a little.

  Just then, another message came through.

  Nate: "Oh, by the way, I’ve prepared a little surprise for you. Look forward to it."

  'What surprise?! Tell me already!' Lucy thought, her curiosity piqued.

  She huffed, choosing to ignore him for now.

  ...

  Back at the vil.

  "I’ve told you everything, can’t you let me go now?" Angel asked timidly.

  Everyone looked to Nate. Since he was the one who had captured her, it was up to him to decide her fate.

  Nate shook his head. "Letting you go would just make you an enemy again. Then we’d have to fight all over."

  "But you already took my keys! I can't do anything now," Angel said, exasperated.

  Nate thought for a moment, then asked Hibiki, "Is Wendy… has Cait Shelter arrived yet?"

  "We’ve sent our magic battleship, 'Christina,' to pick them up. They should be here soon."

  'Magic battleship?' Nate thought with a chuckle. 'Wendy’s probably going to get motion sickness, just like Natsu.'

  Yajima spoke up next, "Now that we know the Oración Seis location, we can unch an attack as soon as the ship returns."

  Nate smiled, coming up with an idea.

  "How would you all feel about being the center of attention?" he asked with a grin.

  "Center of attention?" Lyon asked, puzzled.

  "Well, if you cooperate, we can make this a grand… 'live broadcast' event!"

  Bleam