I'm a Goddess to Be Devoured by the Protagonist - Chapter 71

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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 71
—Aaaaah!!
—Tee-hee!
—Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Ugh. My ears.
The screaming and cackling—I thought my ears would fall clean off.
And somehow my face felt wet in places.
—Tee.
I’d been scribbled on.
“What should I do?”
When ordinary attacks proved useless, I decided to seek counsel from the seasoned adventurer.
Sirius glanced at the stacks of books piled beside the candles on the ground, then at the shadow cast behind them, and spoke.
“Since shadows exist because there is light, what if we extinguish all the candles in this area?”
“Worth a try.”
I swung the Greatsword and snuffed out the flames of the candles scattered across the floor.
As the surroundings grew darker, shadows erupted in every direction at once.
—Run! Run!
—We need to get to the light!
—Whoooosh~
The voices of the shadows faded away, and every candle vanished.
“You really are something, Sirius.”
“It was nothing.”
“But it’s so dark now. Can you see anything?”
“I can see clearly.”
Unlike Sirius, my eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness.
“This way, if you please.”
A firm hand gently grasped my arm. I followed where Sirius led.
Then he stopped short.
“There is a monster ahead.”
Click.
Light flooded in with the sound of a switch, illuminating the space around us.
At the same moment, a monster appeared—its body made of shadow, its head a book.
—Welcome, welcome.
It muttered in a voice thick with static.
Books then cascaded down from the air above.
“Sirius, if you take all of those on your own…”
I wrapped myself thickly in Divine Power to soften the blows, but Sirius shielded me with his body, so I didn’t get hit by a single book.
“I’m glad Weebis came to no harm.”
“That’s not—hah, you’re not hurt, are you?”
“I am not.”
“I’m truly grateful, but you don’t have to protect me so completely. I’m much tougher than you think.”
“Still, I wished to do so.”
What am I going to do with this self-sacrificing fool? At this rate, the moment there’s any real danger, he’ll just dive straight into it.
—Intruders detected. Intruders detected. Exterminate.
The books that had fallen from the air simultaneously sprouted jagged teeth and lunged.
I was startled that I couldn’t defend in time, but the protective enchantment on our clothes prevented the fangs from piercing through.
—Extermination failed. Escalating.
Flip-flip-flip.
The pages of the book that formed the monster’s head turned wildly.
When they finally stopped, the illustration on the page showed a snow-covered mountain range.
In that instant, I blinked, and snow lay piled all around us.
What kind of attack is this? I thought.
So cold, so cold, Pax…
Yelp…
Someone’s voice and the sound of a whimpering dog replayed in my mind.
Even wrapped in Divine Power, the cold didn’t fade. It seemed Divine Power couldn’t block cold after all.
“S-Sirius, are you all right?”
“I’m all r— no, I’m not.”
Sirius started to say he was fine out of habit, then caught himself mid-word.
It must have been bitterly cold for him too.
“But I do know how to fix it.”
“How?”
“If we match our body heat, it should help.”
Ah. A method like that.
I nodded, and Sirius stepped closer. Then he wrapped his arms around me.
Just as Sirius said, the voice calling out Patra’s name vanished from my head.
Wait—didn’t he end up holding me? Now I’m worried Sirius will get cold.
“Sirius? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine now.”
If he says he’s fine, then I suppose he is.
—Eradication impossible. Eradication impossible. Advancing to the next stage.
The book’s pages flipped wildly again, and the snow piled around us vanished.
“Tsk.”
What was that sound just now? It sounded like a disapproving click of the tongue. Did the monster make it?
Sirius wouldn’t make a sound like that.
When is he going to let go anyway? I’m not even cold anymore.
The moment I tried to slip free from Sirius’s embrace, the pages stopped turning and revealed an illustration.
It was a picture of the sun shining brilliantly in the sky.
“This time, we’ll need to separate.”
I unwrapped myself from Sirius as I spoke.
And I made sure to take a step back from him.
We’d get too warm if we stayed pressed together.
“…I’ll cool you down.”
Sirius used the Wing Flapping Skill, his beautiful wings beating. Each movement sent a gust of lukewarm air that somehow felt refreshing.
I wasn’t sure if the skill was meant to be used that way, but the results seemed fine enough.
That lasted only a moment.
—Eradication impossible. Eradication impossible. Eradication impossible.
The book, unable to harm us by any means, went into a frenzy.
Whoosh.
Then smoke poured from the book, and it stopped moving.
The shadow vanished, the book fell to the ground, and shattered into a thousand pieces.
Tumble, tumble.
An item rolled out from where the book had been.
[Purification Agent]
[A highly effective purification solution.]
A transparent liquid filled a small vial. The moment I saw it, I found myself stuffing it into my Inventory without thinking.
Ah. Old gaming habits die hard, don’t they.
I turned back to Sirius. He looked at me as if to ask what I was doing.
Is it really all right for me to take this?
Sirius showed no interest in the item.
“I have no need for it.”
Truth be told, I don’t really need it either. I don’t even know what it’s for.
But the Listener throws all manner of junk into his Inventory, so there’s no reason I can’t do the same.
When I played games, I was a squirrel. I’d hoard any random item, telling myself each one had some use.
That habit doesn’t disappear easily. I might as well keep gathering things here too.
“It appears that monster was the boss. An exit has opened.”
The shadow with a book for a head seemed to have been the Boss Monster all along.
We headed for the exit and left the Dungeon.
* * *
“Wow! Amazing! You two cleared it so fast? Do you know how rare that is? Usually people can’t finish a Dungeon Conquest this quickly.”
The moment we emerged, Seosa began clapping wildly and showering us with praise.
“I didn’t know that.”
“Well, now you do.”
Seosa was reaching toward my head as if to pat it when—
Snap.
Sirius grabbed Seosa’s wrist.
The two of us watched, confused, as Sirius held Seosa’s wrist in his grip.
Sirius kept his hold even as attention fixed on him, utterly unmoved.
Only when Seosa quietly tried to pull her hand away did he release it.
“S-scary.”
Seosa spoke in a shrunken voice.
My child isn’t scared.
“Sirius. Could you tell me why you just did that?”
“I simply wanted to shield him.”
Had he unconsciously judged Seosa to be dangerous?
That wasn’t it at all. What could that fool-faced god possibly see that made him think it was dangerous?
“He said he just wanted to shield him.”
“I, I heard that too.”
Seosa had repeated it, thinking Sirius hadn’t heard, but it turned out he’d caught it just fine.
“Please, just take that friend away quickly.”
“Understood.”
Seosa grabbed Sirius by the wrist so he wouldn’t grow more frightened, pressed the transmission button, and the two of them returned together to My Space.
“Weebis.”
Sirius called out to me. I looked at him as if asking what he wanted.
“Would it be permissible for me to stroke your head?”
“I don’t mind.”
I couldn’t fathom why he’d suddenly asked such a thing. Had Seosa’s attempt to stroke me made him curious about how my hair felt?
“It is remarkably soft.”
Sirius was concentrating intently on stroking my head.
Why was he putting such effort into it?
“Even the finest silk I’ve ever touched in my world was not nearly this soft.”
Stop with the praise. I’m getting embarrassed.
After that, Sirius continued showering me with compliments while he stroked my head for quite some time.
If I weren’t the Listener, my face would have flushed crimson with embarrassment.
* * *
The Enlightened One’s Tea Gathering seemed to open whenever the Enlightened One grew bored.
How frequently this happened was apparently a defining feature of these gatherings.
“Now that I’ve successfully completed the racing game, I’ll be making a different one.”
The Enlightened One declared this while raising her index finger with determination.
“Listener, want to spin a roulette wheel?”
“Why would I?”
“To randomly decide what game I’ll make next.”
She’d had a fondness for randomness from the very first time I met her.
I obediently spun the roulette she’d conjured.
“It landed on three. Hehe.”
“Three? What significance does that number have?”
“Obviously I’m not telling you. Where’s the fun if you know beforehand?”
Even when the jester was asked about the meaning of the number, she refused to explain. She’d only succeeded in stirring my curiosity.
After that, the Enlightened One poked at the empty air repeatedly, doing something while never stopping her teasing—it was clearly a habit, not something she did just once or twice.
“So, Listener, how’s your love life going?”
“I told you, I’m not in love.”
The conversation had suddenly pivoted to me, sitting in silence.

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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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