Beach House.
Seasonal convenience stores that are abundant on various beaches in Japan during the summer, also the first place people who come to play at the beach think of when they want to rest, eat, or buy something, equivalent to a convenience store by the beach.
Naoki and the others were now in one such beach house.
Helping Gray dry her newly washed hair, Naoki laughed: "Really played too much, your hair was full of sand, how does it feel after washing it?"
"Um, much more comfortable."
It was now noon, four hours since they arrived at the beach, and during that time, Naoki and the others had really enjoyed themselves on the beach, such as playing beach volleyball which had become a habit, or swimming races.
Of course, in any competition, Naoki didn't actually participate. After all, in terms of physical ability, he was completely beyond the standard. Participating was really too unfair, so the four of them were the ones who truly enjoyed it.
Broadly speaking, Rin and Gray were one team, Luvia and Miyu were one team.
"Next time when playing beach volleyball, you have to be more careful, don't fall headfirst into the sand like that again."
"There won't be a next time!"
"Hey! You stupid siblings over there, don't you want to have lunch?"
Rin's voice sounded from the dining table not far away.
"If the food gets cold, it won't be tasty."
"In this hot weather, who wants to eat hot food? Cold food is delicious."
After returning to the dining table and sitting next to Gray, Naoki directly took a large glass of shaved ice and poured it into his mouth: "Especially delicious cold things like this, has anyone thought of mixing it with cold noodles and shaved ice?"
"The shaved ice will all melt later, and it will definitely taste weird."
"Really? I'll try it at home later—so what do we want to do this afternoon?"
This morning, basically everything that could be played had been played. Even if there was anything left, it was just jet skiing and diving experiences, but Naoki wasn't very interested, and also, he didn't forget the purpose of their coming this time.
"Want to go see the construction site?"
Luvia nodded: "That was the original plan."
Because the eighth Class Card was located far underground, to reach that depth they had to dig a tunnel, so Luvia, with her abundant wealth, directly rented a large piece of land by the beach and built a temporary factory there to dig the tunnel.
Half of the reason the group came today was to play, and the other half was to inspect the work.
Regarding the eighth Class Card, Rin and Luvia were very concerned. What if the eighth Class Card suddenly had problems when they were halfway through digging?
"Then, do you want to come and take a look too?"
Luvia looked towards the table behind them. At the edge of the table sat a woman wearing a large straw hat and a see-through jacket. Because they hadn't paid much attention earlier, Naoki hadn't noticed who it was, but now after being called by Luvia...
"I'm not going, the weather is too hot, I don't want to move."
That familiar voice instantly surprised Naoki a little: "Caren? Why are you here too?"
"Why, am I not allowed to come?" Taking off her large straw hat, Caren secretly glanced at Naoki, "Anyway, I'm your supervisor. If possible, please don't suddenly go to a place like this without telling me? During the summer vacation, I really don't want to go out and bask in the sun every day, it's so hot."
"If you don't want to come, then don't come, I didn't ask you to come either."
"Who asked me to supervise you? Haaa~" Caren sighed as if very tired, "So just consider this as understanding for me having to work overtime even during summer vacation. Next, you just stay here and accompany me, don't go anywhere, the weather is really too hot, I don't want to move."
Initially, Naoki and the others' expressions were a bit strange when they heard her say she wanted to be accompanied, but after she said her last sentence, they all immediately put on helpless faces.
Naoki sighed: "Then you'd better just go home directly, it doesn't matter if you don't supervise for one day, will your superiors there skin you alive?"
"It's not impossible, the Church can sometimes be quite unreasonable."
Saying this, Caren stood up.
"Regarding the eighth Class Card, the Church has already made a decision. We will temporarily cooperate with you, but sincerely hope that it won't be like before, causing a commotion that the entire city can see. The handling afterward was very troublesome."
As soon as these words came out, Naoki instantly felt the gazes of several people around him all focused on him.
Even with common sense, he knew that Caren's words were directed at him.
"I really didn't mean to cause Moon Fall that time."
"Hopefully. Just consider it for the sake of this weak woman, I don't want to be woken up in the middle of the night to work overtime again. Then I'll go to the car on land to enjoy the air conditioning first, you can catch up later."
The last sentence was still directed at Naoki.
Watching Caren's back as she walked away, Rin couldn't help but blink a few times, then looked at Naoki: "You two... are your relationship that close?"
"It's just that she used to come to my house every day to freeload meals, not so much recently."
"Then do you still want to go see the construction site later?" Luvia asked.
Naoki pondered for a moment.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
A few minutes later.
Lowering the car window, accepting the cold drink that had just come out of the vending machine from Naoki's hand, Caren pressed her face against the car window and sipped her drink.
"Haaaa~~~ finally a little relieved, why are there so many stupid people willing to come to the beach in this hot weather?"
"Maybe it's cooler in the sea?"
"It's the same at the Shinto swimming pool. But it's quite surprising too, you obediently came here, I was already ready to drive around looking for you." Caren showed a small, slightly mischievous smile, "Are you paying a little attention to my feelings?"
"No, and don't try to play with me like this, I've encountered too many wicked women of your type. And I came here, just hoping you could help me investigate a few things, although you could say it's a sudden idea."
Naoki threw the empty can in his hand into the trash can not far away.
Caren frowned slightly: "What is it?"
"The Holy Grail War."
"Isn't that already over?"
"But it's still being held, right? The one in Fuyuki City is indeed over, but subtype Holy Grail Wars are often held in various parts of the world, and you of the Holy Church always act as supervisors in the Holy Grail Wars, right?" Naoki said, "The thing I want you to investigate is very simple, it can't even be called an investigation, you just need to pay attention to one place for me."
"Where?"
"Romania."
Caren was silent for a moment: "That's quite far. That's not my territory."
"There must be a little internal information, right?"
"Leaking information to the Mage Association is a great sin... then will you take care of me?"
Naoki suddenly smiled: "You speak as if I'm not taking care of you now, how much rice have you eaten at my house?"
A pretty good answer.
Caren pulled her head back into the car: "Want to get in? The air conditioning is on."