Tasting the ice cream that I didn't have a long time ago, my mind felt at peace.

"Mundane life is awesome, too. That stupid [Regression], my life would've been like this, if not for that."

Though, my end would've been much worse without knowing it. No power, no responsibilities.

Having no power means that I couldn't even choose my own ending. For me and others, that's not what I want.

"First time seeing you here."

"Who?"

I looked up, only to see a beautiful high school girl in exercise attire. Her jacket made it clear that she is a conservative girl.

Her bob-cut orange hair further highlighted her liveliness. An extrovert, if you may.

"Did I surprise you?"

"Yea."

I continued eating the chocolate ice cream in the cup. Surprisingly, she sat beside me.

"What school did you go to?"

"Eh... It's not in this city."

"On a vacation?"

"Yep."

It seems that I didn't understand women very well. Why did she talk with me straight away as a stranger?

I don't get it.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Yea, sure."

'You've already asked me before!'

She began narrating a story. There's a childhood friend that she really really likes, but she couldn't bear to confess to him, for fear that their long relationship might change.

'A classic high school dilemma.'

"You do it."

"Huh?"

"Just confess. Let's think of this scenario. The one that your friend likes suddenly gets a girlfriend. What would your friend feel?"

"Sadness! And regret, perhaps."

"You've got your answer."

She went silent for a while after hearing my opinion. It took quite a few minutes before she stood up and thanked me.

"Thanks for the advice!"

She said as she ran away.

'A reliable and strong-willed guy? It can't be Vaune, right?'

I recalled the story that she narrated to me. Her friend liked a strong-willed person, but unfortunately, he wasn't so talented. Thankfully, he wasn't so untalented, so he avoided the fate of being bullied and lived a normal school life.

That is, until he almost died during one of his part-time jobs.

To top it off, they weren't in the same class. The guy was also extremely resolute when it comes to this matter, to the point that he didn't want to involve her friend to this.

'This feels much like a web novel.'

Well...telling stories to a stranger and asking for a piece of advice only happens on the internet. That's why I got startled when she did this in real life.

Anyways...

'It wouldn't happen to be Vaune, right?'

I severely underestimated the power of coincidences and will learn of it later on.

***

The next day, I went to Vaune's school. Now that we Demigods have nothing else to do, as the scouting problem was left to the Deities just for safety's sake, we are very much free.

The twins are with Xiu Meili and Kaede and went to many entertainment parks, while Maen and Senior Light went to a tech cafe where they logged into a virtual cabin and fought the natives of this world.

As for Leader...

She shut herself to her hotel room, saying that it was for this mission's sake.

After riding a levitating train, I arrived at my destination. I got off the station and walked a bit more until I reached his school.

Coincidentally, it was the day of the tournament that I've heard yesterday, so I saw the students of this school lining up in buses.

Using my stealth technique to the maximum, I was able to go near him unnoticed.

Tap-!

"W-who is it?!"

Vaune's scream alarmed the rest of his classmates, but they just laughed after seeing that nobody was behind him.

"Hah... Vaune's still Vaune even if he broke through the 3rd Rank."

"Without experience, he has a high chance of losing in the preliminaries during the tournament."

Inaudible ridicules seeped out from their eyes. Still, both Lugh and Vaune knew what they were thinking about.

"Is that how your classmates perceived you?"

"Yes, Commander."

"Humiliating, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Then slap the hell out of their faces during that tournament. Seeing you, here's another million."

I transferred another million to his sub-console. With its restrictions, I could only transfer a million EXP per day to him.

Still, it had been a big help when he skyrocketed to 3rd Rank (C+ Rank). Since he didn't have any disguise capabilities that can't be seen through by a Demigod, he chose to upgrade his traits instead.

With all of them nearing LV5, his panel didn't look like a C+ Rank's. Heck, I didn't get this support back when I started!

"They're that angry of you having a reliable childhood friend?"

"Lena has that many admirers in our school, that's why."

A girl, I see. This is really a plot of a web novel...

"Speaking of her, there she is."

He pointed out an orange-haired girl that is coming at him. Seeing this, I fell into silence.

'What the hell?'

"Vau~ne!"

She hugged him very tightly as soon as she came, which earned the ire of many male students.

"Hey-You weren't this close before?"

"I just wanted to let others know that we're this close~"

"Hah. It'll only bring more trouble to both of us."

"But what if..."

Her voice got lower and lower until it became inaudible. One thing's for sure, she reacted this much because of what I've said before.

To this, Vaune tried to keep distance but to no avail. Lena was so persistent that she stuck to him like glue.

"I'll be sitting behind, good luck."

"Master..."

To translate, I told him to manage his own stuff. With that, I sat in the corner behind all seats. Some students sat near me, but they couldn't detect me.

Heck, their principal is only a Primary Transcendent. Nobody could see me here.

In my surprise, a student sat beside me.

She has a beauty that doesn't lose out to Lena. Her ponytailed long black hair made her similar to those main heroines in some anime that knows kendo.

"Grr... That girl...!"

She said resentfully as she looked at Vaune's location. Seeing this, I laughed so hard inside my mind.

'Bro, you also have that protagonist fate in you. Good luck, I truly mean it.'

If he really is a protagonist just like Red, the troubles that he will face couldn't be imagined. I am very thankful to this hateful world that they didn't make me like that.

Soon, the bus started heading to its destination. To the filler arc, we go!