Alan was a fortune-teller who traveled the continent, famous for predicting people’s fates.

He really could predict a few things, but divination was essentially the Alan family’s innate magic: prophecy. Since Alan wasn’t very powerful, though, he could only predict trivial things.

The reason he’d become famous was that he used prophecy to get a rough idea of what someone wanted, then made things up based on their expression.

“That’s it for today!”

A few days ago, a heavy snowfall hit the royal capital. Alan had been asleep at the time, and only found out later that an evil mage had caused it in an attempt to destroy the city. Ever since, the people of the capital had been on edge, and business had taken a nosedive.

Business was slow today, too, so Alan started packing up early to head back to the inn. Just then, a customer rushed in and, without a word, pointed at his nose and started yelling.

“You charlatan! What was all that nonsense you told me last time? Do you have any idea how much trouble your prophecy got me into afterward?!”

A cute girl’s voice poured out her anger.

Alan looked up and recognized the girl who’d come to him for a reading a little while ago. She had silver hair and silver eyes, an exceptionally rare combination, so he’d remembered her.

“Oh, it’s you! It’s been a few days. What’s wrong?”

“You’ve got some nerve! Didn’t you say last time that I’d end up doing this and that with the person fate had chosen for me?!”

Smack! The silver-haired girl brought both her little hands down on the table.

“Did my prophecy come true, miss?”

“Ugh… Like hell it did! I haven’t taken a single step into adulthood! Anyway, give me my money back! Or I’ll go outside and tell everyone you’re a fraud!”

Alan had dealt with this sort of thing plenty of times, so he didn’t panic.

He secretly activated his prophecy and realized the girl was lovesick.

She was so young, yet all she thought about was dating. Honestly… girls these days. Small but full of mischief.

Alan immediately put on his customer-service smile. “Miss, let me give you another reading.”

“I don’t care! Just give me my mon—”

“This one’s free. Call it an apology.”

Alan set the crystal ball in front of her. The silver-haired girl grumbled, but curiosity got the better of her, and she placed her hand on it.

“Oh, oh, ohhh—!!”

His mysterious voice and dramatic changes of expression caught her attention. The girl immediately grew tense.

“W-What is it?”

“Congratulations, miss! Everything will go your way today. The person you’re in love with will take your first time today.”

“What nonsense are you spouting now? I’m not in love with anyone! Don’t joke around…”

The girl’s over-the-top reaction only convinced Alan further that she was troubled by love. Maybe he should give her a little push.

“The person you love is quite popular, isn’t he? You could be a little more proactive and seize your chance.”

The silver-haired girl’s face flushed bright red.

“I told you, I’m not! I’ve never been in love in my life, and I’d never fall for that perverted harem guy!”

“I haven’t even said who it is.”

“...!”

Oh-ho, she’d just given herself away. As expected, girls this age lost all their common sense when they fell in love.

Alan grinned, looking as if he understood everything. The silver-haired girl couldn’t stand to stay there another second, so she bolted out in embarrassment.

…

“Damn it, damn it! I’m so inexperienced with the world that I got played by a fraud!”

Fio leaned against the wall and stamped her foot in frustration.

It was so embarrassing. She’d gone there to complain, and somehow she was the one who’d been teased into running away.

“The world really is terrifying. No wonder it’s too much for a shut-in like me.”

Fio didn’t believe a single word the fortune-teller had said.

In love with Leon? No way. She’d just been led on by his weird way of talking, that was all.

Yeah. That had to be it. Exactly.

To cement that conclusion, Fio even nodded to herself.

“Hey.”

Leon appeared out of nowhere, his face dark with obvious anger.

“Leon, you were following me?”

“Fio, what are you doing out here?”

“...Buying books,” Fio said guiltily.

Ever since the big incident last time, Fio had been grounded and forbidden from going outside.

Fio hadn’t planned on going out, but today was a very important day—

Her favorite novel, *I Never Expected to Be Reborn as the Female ○ Lead*, was holding a signing in the royal capital, so she’d sneaked out.

And in the end, Leon caught her.

“Didn’t I tell you not to go out?”

“There are battles in life that you have to fight. I simply chose not to run away.”

To overcome her fear of crowds for the sake of 2D, she’d fight tooth and nail to get Filute-sensei’s autograph! Fio was sure this guy, who thought with the lower half of his body and had women on the brain, wouldn’t understand.

“You’ve got quite the nerve, saying that so boldly. Now I feel like I should punish you,” Leon mused.

“...Huh?”

“You’re going to work today. I’ll supervise you,” Leon said. “You’ve got your Advanced Mage license now, so you can take on jobs. Why not start with the lowest-level one—slime extermination?”

“No way!”

Fio didn’t even think about it. She rejected him on the spot.

She knew that any girl who got close to Leon would have her fate rewritten, and inexplicably, things would start happening just to serve this damned light-novel protagonist.

As one of the harem candidates—the little-girl type—Fio knew that Leon’s protagonist aura would inevitably drag her into light-novel fanservice scenes.

Slimes? In the kind of scenario everyone loved to see, they definitely had a special corrosive attack—one that only worked on women’s clothes.

She’d end up having her clothes blasted off in front of this guy. She absolutely couldn’t agree to this!

“This isn’t about whether you agree or not. Do you know how much compensation I had to pay after you nearly blew up the Mage Guild’s testing grounds last time?”

Leon held up three fingers.

“Three hundred?”

“Three million.”

“...”

“It’s coming out of your allowance.”

“Then I’ll never have any allowance for the rest of my life!”

“You get it now? Then get to work, Your Majesty the Dragon King.” Leon showed her no mercy. “I really shouldn’t have spoiled you so much. It’s time to break you of those bad habits.”

“Damn you, perverted harem guy…”

Fio had no strength left to resist. She could only follow Leon to the Adventurers’ Guild and start taking jobs.

This job was going to be incredibly arduous. She’d have to complete the tasks and keep an eye on that perverted guy, too.

When Fio remembered what the fortune-teller had said, her heart started racing. She had to stay alert. She couldn’t let anything weird happen again.