I'm a Goddess to Be Devoured by the Protagonist - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 12
—His lordship has no time to listen to someone like you.
What are you talking about? He’ll want to hear this.
—I’ve brought the item his lordship desires.
There was only one thing the Count could want. An object money alone could never procure, no matter how vast his wealth.
Would he deign to let me in, even now? To admit his mistake?
But the Gatekeeper only twisted his features in disgust.
—What nonsense are you spouting? Don’t tell me your eyes are broken too?
The Gatekeeper jerked his head toward the Estate behind him. That towering mansion, built from mountains of gold.
—Do you know what sort of man his lordship is?
—I’m well acquainted with the Count’s reputation.
—Right then, you understand. A man with wealth beyond anything creatures like you could dream of in your wildest fantasies.
The Gatekeeper stepped closer to Sirius, his eyes widening.
It wasn’t actually threatening. Only irritating.
—Do you grasp what that means? It means he can possess anything he desires!
Not quite.
Did this fool not know the Countess was ill? Or did he know and simply not care?
Not that I particularly wanted to know either. Whatever the case.
Sirius studied him coolly for a moment, then hid his hands behind his back and withdrew the Golden Apple from his Inventory.
He did so as though plucking it from thin air—a performance designed to conceal that he could access an Inventory at all.
Sirius displayed the Golden Apple.
—Consume this fruit, and all ailments are cured.
—A gold-plated apple will cure illness? How absurd.
This wasn’t just any item!
The apple gleamed with such radiant golden light it was obviously no ordinary thing.
Even if it were merely gold leaf on fruit—who wealthy enough to do such a thing would possess it, and why would it be resting in the hands of an adventurer who looked otherwise unremarkable? It defied logic.
—Trying to con me with some lucky trinket you found?
The Estate employs an Appraiser. How could you possibly deceive me?
—It appears your mind is the one afflicted, I’m afraid.
That sounds more like you.
I contemplated whether to deploy the cunning I’d honed watching keyboard warriors wield their weapons across the internet while staring at mission sponsor buttons.
Then I realized Sirius was the one who had to act, not me, and I abandoned the thought.
That didn’t mean I’d do nothing.
[Your contract deity, The Listener of Wishes Drawing Fate Lines, has terminated the mission arbitrarily.]
Sirius’s gaze lingered on the system window. In that moment, I tapped away at my holographic keyboard.
[Mission]
[Say with pregnant significance: “You will come to regret this.” Then exit.]
[Reward: Bread ×1]
—You will come to regret this.
[Mission Success! Your reward has been granted!]
[Bread ×1]
Sirius rose from his position. The Gatekeeper, taken aback, assumed he was fleeing—and smiled with unconcealed contempt.
For a moment I nearly smashed my fist through the broadcast screen in fury.
We had no time to spare on dim-witted extras like him.
I decided to teach him what becomes of stupid extras in novels.
I composed a lengthy mission and sent it out.
* * *
Sirius came to a halt before a shop in the Shopping District. My attention fixed on its sign.
[Lark]
I’d found the right place.
—Welcome!
The shop’s interior was lined with dainty, charming trinkets. Goods that would appeal to young girls and ladies of marriageable age.
In other words, the shop clashed entirely with Sirius. Already bearing a dark expression, he cut an even grimmer figure in his hood—a imposing grown man in a shop of delicate things.
The Shop Clerk, however, didn’t bat an eye. One might credit such exemplary service, but there was another reason at work.
Sirius paid no attention to the merchandise and approached the Shop Clerk directly.
—Are you searching for something in particular?
—I’m looking for decorative pieces featuring birds.
—Ah! Then you’ve come to exactly the right place. Our shop carries many bird-themed ornaments. Is there a particular bird you had in mind?
—A small one, but refined. A blue bird.
—Something like that would be in the back. Shall I show you?
—I shall show you the way.
The Shop Clerk opened the door behind the counter and led the way inside.
I’d somehow managed to memorize it.
For a password, it wasn’t terribly difficult, which was fortunate.
This Journey contained what other novels often featured—the clichéd “place you can only enter if you know the password”—as a standard plot element.
The Shop Clerk hadn’t panicked for this very reason. Plenty of people would know the code.
The two climbed the stairs leading to the second floor, passed through several doors, and entered the innermost chamber.
—It’s this way.
The Shop Clerk pointed respectfully toward a door adorned with a wreath woven from wooden branches. A small blue bird, delicately carved into the wreath, caught the eye.
The employee knocked, opened the door, and gestured respectfully into the space beyond. Sirius stepped inside, following the invitation.
—Oh my, we have a visitor.
In the room, which resembled an office, sat a woman dressed in blue. She appeared to be a woman in her middle years, just crossing the threshold into maturity, and carried the leisurely air of a refined noblewoman.
She was Blue Bird, the owner of Bluefeather—the largest merchant house in this world.
So had he come to sell Golden Apples to the merchant house? Of course not.
Bluefeather dealt in information from the shadows and accepted commissions as well.
—Please, sit here.
Blue Bird gestured toward the chair across from her. Once Sirius was seated, the Shop Clerk set tea before them both.
—What brings a young person like yourself here? An errand, perhaps?
The password to this place was known only to a select few of consequence. It was the path to a direct meeting with the owner of Bluefeather, after all.
To judge by Blue Bird’s reaction, there were no young people of importance in her network, and certainly no one who looked like a common adventurer in travel-worn clothing.
She was likely assessing Sirius as a subordinate of a subordinate of someone she knew.
—Might I ask who sent you?
—It’s someone you wouldn’t know.
What was this? Why was he speaking as though someone had dispatched him?
I questioned Sirius’s response. True, I had told him to come, but wouldn’t it be easier for him to simply say he had business here?
—Is that so? I haven’t the faintest notion of who that might be.
Blue Bird’s lips curved upward with intrigue. Even with all her information networks, she’d have no way to guess, yet rather than looking flustered, she seemed delighted.
—Would you at least tell me this person’s name?
What was I supposed to say to that? If I revealed my alias here, I’d either expose myself as a Divine Contract Holder or end up branded a fraud.
Either way, I couldn’t very well spill my secrets in front of an information merchant.
—I’m afraid I cannot disclose that.
—My.
Did he… was he about to get thrown out? And why wouldn’t he just answer her questions properly?
Anyone could bluff like that. The only reason Sirius could pull it off was because he looked reasonably composed.
In truth, there was a reason behind Sirius’s evasiveness. I caught a glimpse of the mission window that had opened beside the broadcast interface.
[Blue Bird is unlikely to conduct business with a stranger she’s just met. To deal with her, you must pique her interest.]
I’d deliberately provoked her attention.
Should I have told him not to?
I waited for Blue Bird’s response, feeling as though my back had grown damp with nervous sweat.
—You’re quite an interesting person.
Fortunately, it worked.
It made sense, really. An ordinary adventurer couldn’t possibly have learned of this place’s existence, and while the password wasn’t difficult, the odds of guessing it by chance were slim.
Small, elegant, blue bird.
The probability that all three elements would appear together, let alone in the correct order, had to be minuscule.
Moreover, Sirius clearly understood what this establishment was.
That fact alone marked him as no ordinary person.
Her conclusion was probably that he was a subordinate of someone she didn’t even know—someone masquerading as an adventurer.
She could never imagine that a minor deity, one whom an ordinary human had read about in a novel before possessing this body, had sent him.
—Well then, what brings you here?
Instead of speaking, Sirius produced the Golden Apple.
—Oh? That object is…?
Blue Bird’s eyes widened in surprise as the gleaming brilliance caught her gaze.
—My. A Golden Apple… I’ve never seen the real thing before.
Unlike others, she immediately recognized its true worth.
Blue Bird possessed an Appraisal Ability.
Given that dungeons existed in this world and items along with them, there were quite a few people with the inherent ability to appraise things.
For Sirius’s part, entering into contract with me had granted him access to an Item Ability, making him possessed of an appraisal ability much the same.
—So you’ve come to sell that item to us?
—No.
Blue Bird tilted her head, waiting for Sirius’s next words.
—Leak information about this to Count Peony.
It was casting a fishing line.
—It’s not difficult.
Blue Bird nodded, her gaze sharp with understanding of what Sirius meant to do.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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