I'm a Goddess to Be Devoured by the Protagonist - Chapter 96

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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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Chapter 96
Wait… could this game possibly be… a romance game?
Now that I thought about it, this didn’t seem to be just a school-only game.
Could this game’s genre really be…?
It couldn’t be a dating sim, could it?
“Hold on. Sirius.”
I blurted out something random to break the mood.
“Is it not, sir?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I—no. Never mind.”
Saying anything more would only make things stranger, so I held my tongue.
But in this situation, there was only one thing to do in a dating sim.
“Let’s stop watching the fireworks now.”
“…Very well.”
He seemed disappointed, but I was probably just imagining it.
I returned to my assigned room in this game and lay down on the bed.
[The game’s early-access demo has ended.]
The game was over, and we returned to my space.
The beautiful fireworks still painted vividly across the sky before my eyes.
* * *
Tondalja called me to his space.
Probably to hear my impressions of playing the game.
“How was this game?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Hmm, really? Nothing good happened in the game?”
“I don’t know.”
Think hard. There must be at least one thing.
“Ah. I saw a cat.”
“Good grief.”
Tondalja let out a sound of utter despair.
“By the way, what kind of game was this one?”
Just tell him it was a school game.
“It was a dating sim, but I guess it failed.”
I’d suspected as much, but hearing it confirmed was still a shock.
“Really, nothing happened at all?”
“No. Nothing.”
“Then why won’t you look me in the eye?”
I returned to my space without explaining the reason.
* * *
[Raise the target’s Affection Rating through various activities!]
Sirius saw the Affection Rating appear in a window before him.
[Affection Rating: 924]
It was quite a high number.
* * *
For several days, Quartz ran smoothly even without my involvement.
Alisa was fulfilling her duties as queen. Now, sitting on the throne felt natural to her.
[Congratulations. All temples in ‘Quartz’ have become your temples.]
So it finally happened.
Is there any reward or something?
Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be one.
I wandered through the broadcast in various places and entered Vega’s channel. As the Chief Deity of Quartz now, I shouldn’t show favoritism toward any one person, but since she was someone I’d spent time with alongside Sirius before, I couldn’t help where my eyes drifted.
-Who’s been bothering our Vega?!
Betel had gathered the mages and demanded an answer.
I was startled and looked at the child, wondering who could have bothered Vega, only to notice his face was covered in doodles.
Several mages exchanged glances with Betel before hesitantly raising their hands.
-Betel, it was just a joke. We all agreed to draw on the face of whoever fell asleep first with you gentlemen.
-Even so, Vega shouldn’t be touched.
Betel pouted, clearly displeased with the explanation. The mages still holding their hands up seemed to be wordlessly asking why.
Betel stepped forward and addressed them.
-Listen up! When I grow up, I’m going to marry Vega!
Oh my goodness.
The sight was so entertaining that I found myself craving popcorn.
Vega looked flustered and pointed at himself.
“Me? You want to marry me?”
“Yes. Don’t you want to marry me, Vega?”
“I… I don’t mind.”
“Then when you grow up, you’ll marry me?”
“Okay, I understand.”
Vega had stumbled into making a marriage promise without quite meaning to. Yet he didn’t seem to dislike it.
Now that I looked at them, the two made a rather charming pair.
I found myself approving of this marriage.
I imagined attending their wedding ceremony as adults.
It was an impossibility, given that they lived in different worlds.
Still, I decided to share this good news with Sirius.
“Sirius, Vega says he’ll marry Betel when he grows up.”
“He’s made such a promise while still so young?”
“Yes, so I heard.”
“How wonderful. I envy them both.”
Sirius’s reaction was unexpected.
What about them was he envying?
Could it be that he envied them for having someone to marry?
But if Sirius chose to come to the Divine Realm, marriage might not even be possible for him.
Just then, the memory of Sirius’s Affection Rating — which had crossed 999 — suddenly surfaced.
Could he possibly be thinking about marrying me…?
No, that’s absurd. It couldn’t be.
What would be so good about marrying me?
I wanted to dismiss it as something Sirius had said without much thought, but it nagged at me even as night fell.
When bedtime arrived, Sirius now naturally extended his arm — to hold me as we slept.
Something felt off about this. The way he held me like this made it seem impossible that he’d want to marry someone else.
“Is something troubling you?”
“No, nothing.”
I was lying.
Perceptive as always, Sirius refused to believe me.
“I would like you to share what troubles you. I wish for your comfort, Webbis.”
Even so, I couldn’t ask him about this. It was too embarrassing to admit that I was still dwelling on it.
“Is it something you cannot speak of?”
“Yes.”
“Then I shall wait until you are able to share it.”
But why should I be worrying about this?
Is it my place to worry?
Yes, it is. We’ve been getting along so well — it’s only natural that I’d want to know about the person he wants to marry.
Besides, did Sirius even possess romantic feelings? From what I remembered of the Visual Novel, he didn’t.
And throughout the journey I had witnessed, there was no one he’d ever shown affection toward.
It wasn’t until the next day at lunch that the question finally escaped my lips.
“Is there someone you want to marry, Sirius?”
“There is.”
That’s strange.
If I felt that way, I don’t think I would have come here in the first place, leaving that person behind.
If the person he wanted to marry was in Quartz, and it had been so long since they parted, it seemed odd that Sirius was so unbothered about it.
Could it possibly be… me?
But there was no reason for him to have feelings for me.
That was the strangest part of all. There had been no occasion for Sirius to develop such feelings.
When Sirius was in Quartz, I could only communicate with him through the System.
“Mom, what are you doing?”
Even as Sirius was shaking a toy for him, Sapphire came toward me. The child must have noticed that I was far too lost in thought.
Stop thinking about this. No matter how much I ponder it, I won’t find an answer.
“Shall we go out and play?”
“Yay!”
“Let’s go, Sirius.”
“Very well.”
[Fantasy Playground]
[#playground #clouds #NPC]
I took Sapphire to a world where the playground existed.
A children’s playground sat amid fantastical clouds, and cloud-shaped NPCs flitted about from place to place.
“Wheee!”
Sapphire climbed the stairs with his small frame all by himself, moving with spirited confidence, and slid down the slide.
The cloud NPCs darted around near Sapphire.
“Your movements are quick!”
“How adorable!”
Sapphire stood on his hind legs and thrashed about in the empty air, trying to catch one of the cloud NPCs.
Poof.
The cloud NPC vanished and then reappeared.
“Little dragon friend, let me show you something fun.”
The cloud seemed intent on showing Sapphire something.
“Mmph!”
A rainbow arced from one small cloud and stretched across to touch another.
The connection between the two clouds looked intimate.
“Wheeeee!”
Sapphire clapped his front paws enthusiastically. He was an audience member with wonderful enthusiasm.
I was watching him like that when a small cloud drifted over and asked.
“Hey there—are you two a couple?”
Here we go again with the couple thing.
By now I’d grown too tired to deny it. This world seemed to have a habit of interpreting any man and woman standing close together as a romantic pair.
“We are not married.”
“Then? Are you dating?”
……
For some reason, Sirius didn’t deny the second question. I wondered if he, like me, found denying it exhausting.
Still, I had to deny it.
“We’re not dating either.”
“Then what’s your relationship?”
“We’re… friends?”
For some reason, saying we were friends felt difficult.
I would have simply called us friends in the old days.
“If you were lovers, I’d introduce you to a special date course.”
“There’s something like that?”
The world introduction hadn’t mentioned anything like that.
“Yeah. It’s a place the owner of this world is secretly creating.”
“Right. So they can go on dates with their favorite deity.”
“Hey, you didn’t need to say that!”
“What’s it matter? There’s nothing wrong with saying it.”
The clouds bickered with each other.
I watched them for a moment before speaking.
“Couldn’t you introduce us to that course even if we’re not lovers?”
“Well, I suppose that’s true.”
The small cloud bobbed toward one edge of the cloud-covered area that enclosed the playground, waded through the gathered clouds, and spoke.
“Follow me.”
We followed the small cloud.
Where the small cloud led us was slightly darker than the previous area.
But it wasn’t entirely dark—scattered clouds dotted with stars lay throughout, keeping the space luminous.
A beautiful cosmos stretched beyond a window suspended in thin air, beside a low table crafted from clouds.
It was a far more fantastical place than the one we’d just left.

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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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