I'm a Goddess to Be Devoured by the Protagonist - Chapter 4
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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 4
“Huff… huff….”
Then my stamina gave out entirely.
Why does this god have such pathetic endurance!
It’s like a Korean office worker’s.
On top of that, the counter and oven were so close that every time the oven ran, heat washed over me. I couldn’t tell if it was bread baking or my own body.
I tried to move the counter because I couldn’t take it anymore, but it wouldn’t budge.
[Set products cannot be separated.]
[Suggestion]
[Would you like to change the installation location of the Baking Set?]
What? Just let me move one of them.
[Set products cannot be separated.]
The Baking Set had no intention of understanding my heart. I had to keep kneading dough next to that scorching oven.
After time passed and enough bread had accumulated, I finally escaped that infernal labor.
“Water… gathering….”
But there was still work left. Feeling like a dried-out root vegetable, I dragged myself toward the Water Gathering Set.
Please let gathering water be easy.
But contrary to my hopes, gathering water was far from easy. I had to draw water from the Well, and the Bucket’s weight was no joke. I had to squeeze every ounce of strength into the handle just to pull it up.
[Water Gathering Set: Shall we make a Leaf Sphere?]
And there was a reason a small tree stood beside the Well.
Naturally, no plastic water bottle was provided to hold and drink from. I had to gather leaves from the tree, pour water into them, then shape them into a sphere so the water wouldn’t spill.
The fortunate part was that even roughly spherical shapes didn’t leak, so the work wasn’t difficult, and since new leaves sprouted whenever I plucked them, I didn’t end up in despair staring at a completely stripped tree.
After more time passed, I caught my breath and surveyed the bread and Leaf Spheres piled like a small mountain.
At this rate, even with sixteen people, we could survive several days, right?
I pressed the Sponsorship button in the message.
[Please specify the Divine Support items.]
As my gaze fell on the mountain of bread and Leaf Spheres, they took on a faint blue tint.
[Divine Support items have been designated.]
[Please select where the Divine Support items will be sent.]
[Recipient’s Inventory] / [In front of the Recipient] / [Custom]
Just like when I’d sent Divine Support through a Mission earlier, I could choose where the items would go.
I pressed the button for “In front of the Recipient.”
I looked at the broadcast screen. The mountain of bread and Leaf Spheres that had been in front of me appeared before Sirius, and a window opened simultaneously.
[( ᐛ )⊃━☆o. * ・ 。゚]
I didn’t read the part about my contracted god or the Divine Support message—I only looked at the emoticon’s content. Since I’d see this every time I sent support anyway, there was no point in reading it now.
Although I’d become ragged making the Divine Support items, it didn’t show in the emoticon. It would’ve looked too pathetic otherwise.
The moment food appeared, all eyes turned toward it.
After days of famine, one might expect people to rush forward like beasts, but as if they instinctively knew they couldn’t take food away from Sirius, they simply stared with piercing eyes.
Watching them, I quickly pressed the Mission Sponsorship button.
[Please enter the Mission content.]
A window opened that I’d already seen when I sent a Mission Sponsorship before. There were several options beside it, but I didn’t need them and didn’t bother looking.
[Share food with everyone]
After writing the content, I pressed the Sponsorship button.
[Converting your Mission to the proper format.]
[Mission has been sent.]
The moment the final window appeared, a window opened before Sirius as well.
[Mission]
[Distribute food to all people in the Underground Warehouse.]
[Mission Reward: Bread×1]
I’d thrown in whatever reward occurred to me. What mattered was the Mission’s content.
After confirming the system window, Sirius stood and first held out bread and water to the child. The child hesitated before accepting it.
Then he distributed food to the others. They bowed their heads in gratitude to Sirius, who filled others’ bellies before his own.
Finally, he walked toward the Thugs, who had only been watching for his cue. Sirius looked like he wouldn’t want to give anything to those bastards, but he showed no such hesitation.
With everyone watching, Sirius held out bread and a Leaf Sphere to the Thugs.
The foremost Thug looked back and forth between Sirius and the bread with suspicious eyes. His expression screamed confusion about the intention.
And for good reason—they’d been locked in confrontation just moments before.
As silence fell, Sirius opened his mouth.
-“The Listener of Wishes Drawing Diagonal Lines has commanded that we distribute the food bestowed upon us.”
-“What?”
The Thugs widened their eyes in surprise.
But it wasn’t just them. Everyone in the Underground Warehouse was stunned.
—A being called by such a name…….
—Could it be……!
Sirius nodded, confirming their suspicions.
—A new God has arrived among us.
At his words, the people drew in their breath. As if they couldn’t believe it.
—Then, the sword appearing so suddenly…….
—Was it a gift from the God?
Sirius nodded, and a wave of fervor swept through the warehouse.
—Oh, Divine One.
—The God has come to save us!
—The Listener of Wishes Drawing Diagonal Lines!
Everyone gazed up at the warehouse ceiling, singing my praises.
Watching it unfold in real time, I felt nothing but immense discomfort.
Why did I have to be possessed by a god and receive the adulation of these people?
—I thought the intervention of gods other than the two had only happened in ancient times…….
The two referred to the creator gods of Quartz, surely.
Quartz had been created by twin deities—the God of Fire and the God of Water.
Two suns existing in a single world.
Some people had whispered secretly about which sun shone brighter.
Their murmurs reached the ears of both gods, and gradually their relationship grew competitive.
In the process of the gods proving their magnificence, casualties emerged. Floods to display the power of water, wildfires to display the power of fire.
The competition was not confined to relations between the gods alone. Those belonging to each Temple regularly sent assassins to eliminate key figures of the rival Temple.
Then, one day, the gods vanished.
Without the slightest warning.
At first, the Temples had carefully announced that “the two Gods have repented of their wrongs and chosen a period of self-reflection.”
But now, everyone knew the gods had abandoned their world.
With the gods who had tended to creation gone, Quartz was walking toward oblivion.
……Or so the setting was meant to be.
In the novel, the true reason emerges only after the story has progressed considerably, but it wasn’t particularly important, so I’ll just spoil it.
An Evil God appeared in Quartz, and the two Gods abandoned the world and fled.
The cause of the world’s doom was not the absence of the two Gods, but the Evil God.
Apparently, it was trying to consume Quartz or something like that.
Thus, much like Sirius and the Listener in “Journey of This Evening,” my own mission was to eliminate the Evil God.
Why the Listener’s goal was also to eliminate the Evil God was never explained. It was simply surmised that the Listener treated saving Quartz as a kind of game and was raising Sirius to defeat the final boss—the Evil God.
But setting that aside, the child should be safe now, right?
I looked toward the three-man gang of no-goods. They were greedily eyeing the food as if someone might snatch their portion away.
I was the one who told them to share the food, so why did it sit so wrong with me?
Those thugs had specifically targeted the child, the weakest among them, to steal his rations. If they’d said, “Hey, how about we play rock-paper-scissors and take the loser’s food?” even if it seemed a bit crazy, it wouldn’t have been quite so unlikeable.
Had they committed crimes before? Had their character once been different?
Regardless, I couldn’t let it pass. I pressed the Mission Sponsorship button and jabbed the holographic keyboard forcefully with fury, then transmitted the message.
Sirius confirmed the window that had appeared before him and rose to approach the thugs.
—What now?
—Have you committed crimes in the past?
—And what if we have?
The thugs spoke as if it were no concern of his. They revealed their depravity without the slightest trace of shame.
Sirius lowered his gaze and fell silent for a moment, then spoke to the thugs again.
—One hundred Sit-up Exercises.
—What?
—Do them.
The thugs frowned at the sudden command and exchanged glances. Sirius paid them no mind and continued.
—The God has so commanded.
—But a god wouldn’t order something like…….
—If you do not obey the command, I am instructed to carry out physical correction.
As Sirius tightened his grip on his sword, the thugs stiffened and backed away. But there was nowhere to flee in this place.
They exchanged wary glances, then reluctantly began performing the Sit-up Exercises repeatedly, their faces growing darker.
It lasted only briefly before their complexions began to shift like a gradient.
—Huff, huff…… Huff…….
The thugs’ breathing grew ragged, and sweat poured down like rain. Sirius watched them, then spoke to one of the men.
—That one doesn’t count. Your form was poor. You must lower your body further and raise it higher.
He pointed out the sloppy work without letting it slide.
Oh. I didn’t order this.
Thank you for the service, boss. Five stars for you.
Again.
Ugh… haah…
Again.
P-please, give me a break!
Do it again.
Complete with one-on-one free personal coaching.
Even as the man pleaded, Sirius showed him no mercy. In the end, the man repeated the painful exercise with proper form, driven by tears that were all too real.
Once Sirius had nothing left to correct in him, he turned his attention to another Thug.
You alone are falling behind on pace.
Yes, sir!
It was warm encouragement that infused his body with strength. Thanks to it, that Thug managed to pick up speed.
Ugh! Properly now, puh-hah. You’re counting right? I’ve already done over a hundred, hack-hack! I think I’ve done more than that!
You completed forty-one. This gentleman finished thirty-five. That one did forty-six.
Damn it, I did forty-five!
Four of them weren’t executed properly.
The man stared as though wondering how Sirius could possibly know that, since he hadn’t even been looking at him until just now.
I watched him with fascination.
He’d only been listening to the sounds—how did he know?
Sirius didn’t reveal his secret, simply moving on to hound the next man.
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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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