I am the Goddess Destined to be Devoured by the Protagonist - Chapter 10

========== EPISODE 10 ==========

As Sirius entered the room, Vega, who had been sitting on the bed, opened her eyes wide in surprise. It was because, no matter how one looked at it, Sirius looked like someone who had just come from a battle.

-I have been to a dungeon.

That was all he said to Vega, who had so much she wanted to ask.

Seeing that, Vega seemed like she wanted to ask why he went to such a dangerous place.

However, she couldn’t say anything. It was because adventurers like Sirius did go into dungeons.

I agreed with Vega’s thoughts. Dungeons were indeed dangerous places.

Honestly, I didn’t want to send Sirius to such a place either. But there are things that cannot be helped.

[Mission]

[Get treated by ‘Vega’.]

[Reward: Bread x1]

Sirius kept his gaze on the mission window for a moment. He didn’t have much of an expression, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

He isn’t thinking that I’m a bad god who works him to the bone, is he?

Honestly, I can’t even refute that, but it’s a waste to let such a good ability go to rot, and Vega also feels proud helping others. Plus, it’s good for you that your pain goes away, too.

-Could I ask for treatment?

Vega nodded.

She was sweating, perhaps because using magic was strenuous. Even so, the wounds hadn’t fully healed yet. It was because the original wounds were quite large, even though Vega’s ability was excellent.

What should I do? Should I tell her to stop?

I would like to do that if I could, but given Vega’s personality, she would likely take it to heart, feeling she hadn’t finished the work she was supposed to do.

-That is enough now.

-No. I can do more.

Sirius pulled Vega’s hand away.

-I get wounds like this often.

Why are you talking like a protagonist in a misunderstanding trope? Look at how wide Vega’s eyes got.

It wasn’t a lie. Sirius had good durability, after all.

The solution to this problem was unexpectedly simple.

[Your contracted god, ‘Listener of Wishes Drawing Lines’, has arbitrarily ended the mission.]

[Mission]

[Tell ‘Vega’ that you will get treated again once her stamina recovers.]

[Reward upon mission success: Bread x1]

-I will get treated again tomorrow.

Even so, Vega did not withdraw her worried gaze.

-Then… won’t you be in pain all day today?

-No. It is fine.

[Mission successful! The item is being delivered!]

[Bread x1]

This taciturn protagonist character, seriously!

If Sirius had been next to me, I would have slapped his back without hesitation.

[Mission]

[Explain your exact condition to ‘Vega’ to ease her worries.]

[Reward upon mission success: Bread x1]

-Contrary to how it looks, I am really not in pain.

-That is a relief then…

[Mission successful! The item is being delivered!]

[Bread x1]

Since he said he really wasn’t in pain, Vega seemed somewhat relieved.

Having finished all the missions, Sirius washed his body, lay on the bed to rest, and opened his inventory window.

There was one more item added there, besides his old sword.

As he examined the item, a system window popped up above it.

[Blessed Golden Apple]

[Cures all diseases upon consumption.]

[Bonus effect: Good for women’s skin, and good for men’s ‘that place’ that cannot be spoken of.]

I hadn’t seen the description about the bonus effect, but I think I know why it didn’t appear.

This apple is, quite literally, a panacea. It’s hard to grasp because it was obtained so easily, but this was an item worth whatever price one named.

The reason I could decide to sell the Golden Apple was that the value of the Golden Apple was well-described in When This Journey Ends.

Thank you, author-nim. If you tell me where you are, I will bow to you once. But that ending was really not it.

Naturally, there was no situation in the novel where Sirius needed a panacea.

If there had been, I would have told him to keep it safely in his inventory and eat it.

For reference, the person who ended up eating this apple in When This Journey Ends was an old man who was sick and dying.

It was a passage that showed the remaining humanity in Sirius.

To give an item whose value was described with grand sentences to the person in the lowest position—it’s a wonderful story.

Except for the fact that warm blood was smeared on the sleeve of Sirius, who handed over the apple.

Thinking about it again, it was a passage where I could feel the author-nim’s viciousness.

But if I choose to sell the apple here, does that mean the old man dies?

That’s not it. The disease the old man had could be cured with a single dose of medicine that is easily found in the city.

The problem was that the place where the old man lived was far from the city, he couldn’t get out of bed because of the illness, and he didn’t even have the money to buy the medicine.

This meant that when Sirius went to the city, he could just buy the medicine, put it in his inventory, and give it to the old man when he met him.

It’s good to carry medicine, not just for the old man’s sake.

I’ve ended up taking care of a kid, too. Let’s try becoming a walking pharmacy!

Sirius took the Blessed Golden Apple out of his inventory and examined it. It looked like an action without any particular reason, but Vega, seeing that, asked in surprise.

-Did you obtain that in the dungeon?

-That is correct.

-But how did you know there was a dungeon here?

Vega seemed to have doubts about the fact that Sirius hadn’t had the time to find out about the dungeon.

-The god told me.

-Th-the god? Then, by any chance…

-Yes. The god ordered me to enter the dungeon.

-Wh-why…

As Sirius nodded, Vega made a face as if she couldn’t believe it.

Vega seemed to be contemplating whether she should view me as a trash god who sends her own contractor to a dangerous place like a dungeon.

Just as I was agonizing over whether I should cast aside the dignity of a god and explain myself, Sirius opened his mouth.

-It seemed like they did not know I would get hurt.

So it was all obvious.

Is it strange that they didn’t know, even after causing such a ruckus?

Shame came over me belatedly. I felt heat rushing to my face.

Anyway, I was glad he realized it.

Fortunately, Vega seemed to have realized to some extent that I was not an evil god.

Anyway, since the goal was achieved, I had to execute the next plan. Of course, since I had no intention of whipping an injured person and an exhausted child, I would do it when both of them were in good condition.

I had to sell that Golden Apple.

However, I couldn’t sell it in this village. The cliché of “W-we don’t have the money to buy something like that” was bound to trigger.

Instead of making them walk in vain, I had to go to a place that could buy the Golden Apple from the start.

So…

[Mission]

[Go to ‘City Aquamarine’.]

[Reward upon mission success: Bread x1]

Let’s go, to the city!

Inside the carriage, Sirius thought with his eyes closed.

To be precise, he pretended to be asleep in case someone was watching him, and organized his thoughts inside.

Even though there was only one other person in the same carriage.

In the quiet carriage, only the sound of small snoring could be heard.

How many days had passed since he contracted with the god?

He had already confirmed the fact that the god could not read his thoughts.

When the god showed a reaction by sending a strange picture, he had deliberately tried thinking blasphemous thoughts.

Starting from simple criticism to dirty words, and then sentences that he was sure would break the contract if he spoke them out loud.

The god did not react to any of it. Perhaps the thoughts of a lowly human were not of interest.

Sirius thought of the two gods who had disappeared, then soon erased them from his mind.

Old records also mentioned the appearance of other gods besides the two main gods. However, those known as the god’s contractors did not even reach ten.

People loved to chatter about the miracles of the gods they had witnessed.

But Sirius had no room to pay attention to that. He knew the gods were great beings, but that was all.

He sometimes wondered. Why do unhappy people exist in a world where gods perform miracles?

The starving. The abandoned children. The sick elderly.

Envy. Jealousy. Betrayal. Despair. Pain. Murder. Death.

Thus, the conclusion he reached.

People do not think about the well-being of a bug crawling past their feet.

The gods were the same. They do not think deeply about the well-being of humans, who are merely insignificant beings.

Therefore, Sirius had no reason to have faith.

So, it was a strange thing that the god had chosen him.

[The observing god, ‘Listener of Wishes Drawing Lines’, has proposed a contract. Will you accept?]

[Yes] / [No]

So, only questions remained.

What was this rectangular light that appeared before him?

What was the reason the god appeared only now?

But his contemplation did not last long.

[Yes]

It made sense if they had chosen a human who wouldn’t matter if they were used up and broken.

There were many substitutes in this world. There were plenty of people who wanted to be used by a god.

He accepted the proposal because there was no reason to refuse.

Sirius thought of the dark warehouse. The day he was trapped there was the day after he had been betrayed by those he trusted.

In fact, it wasn’t the first time he had experienced the hardship of betrayal.

He pulled the edge of his hood and pressed it down. He had once been framed for a crime by someone who used to be a colleague, and although some time had passed since he barely cleared his name, the habit formed back then still remained.

Sirius made up his mind to forget the past, as he had done until now.

As he sat still like that, it felt as if the questions of the people in the underground warehouse were ringing in his ears.