I Healed the Cold Dark Goddess’s Loneliness, and Now She Won’t Let Me Go! - Chapter 1

“I got transported to another world, and now I’m being offered as a sacrifice.”

“I’m so sorry…! It was… it was supposed to be my job! Haruno-san, you didn’t have anything to do with this…!”

“Ahaha, it’s okay, it’s okay! It’s not like it’s set in stone that I’m going to die yet, right?”

As I comforted the sobbing girl who looked to be about twelve, I reflected on my own fate.

Yes, I had been made a sacrifice. I know that sounds confusing, but honestly, I don’t really get it either.

“But Lady Reine has never once returned a sacrifice…!”

“Lady Reine, huh…”

Reine, the Goddess of Darkness. Apparently, she’s the one I’m supposed to offer my life to.

I was dropped into this world with nothing but the clothes on my back. The village that took me in is so dependent on the protection of this Dark Goddess that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she’s the only reason they survive. In exchange, they offer a young girl as a sacrifice.

The girl chosen for that role was Mina, the girl currently crying into my chest. But then I, Haruno Hiiragi, active high school girl, showed up at just the right time. Taking full advantage of the situation, the villagers shoved the role of sacrifice onto me.

“…Mina-chan. Thanks for crying for me. It’s not easy to cry for someone else when you’re the one who was saved.”

“That’s…”

I gently stroked Mina’s head to calm her down. We haven’t known each other long, but she feels like a little sister to me. Mina is a good kid. Part of it is that being a “sacrifice” still doesn’t feel real to me, but if my being a substitute means this girl gets to live, I feel like there’s some meaning in that. I mean, obviously, I don’t want to die!

…But seeing such a small girl cry for my sake actually makes me feel more composed.

“Haruno-san, how can you be so calm!?”

Mina spoke through her tears. I rubbed her back gently as I replied.

“Well, things have a way of working out.”

To tell the truth, there’s another reason I’m so calm or rather, why I’m not quite focusing on the danger I’m in.

Lady Reine, the Goddess of Darkness, is the final boss of an Otome game I was secretly obsessed with.

However, in the game’s main story, she’s more like a ghost spreading curses across the world. The stories of her granting “divine protection” to humans are legends from five thousand years ago.

In other words, I’ve been transported five thousand years before the start of the game!

Contrast. It’s a typical Otome game where the protagonist is chosen by the Sun God, attends an aristocratic academy, and falls in love with various handsome guys. My personal favorite was Alford, a Duke’s son suffering from a dark curse.

I indulged in this bit of escapism as I walked under the moonlight. I was currently being “guided” or rather, escorted by the villagers toward the temple where the Goddess lived.

“Go up the stairs alone from here. It would be disrespectful to the Goddess if we all crowded in… Don’t you dare run away.”

A man from the village spoke firmly. Even if he hadn’t said it, I had nowhere to run. I looked up at the stairs, long enough to make me feel sick and started climbing obediently.

Once I was alone, I walked absentmindedly and looked up at the sky. There, floating in a crystal-clear starry sky, were two beautiful moons.

They were identical to the symbol of this world depicted in the key visuals of Contrast. That was what made me realize this was the game world. The only difference was the state of the sky. In the legends of the game which is to say, right now—the Goddess of Darkness and the God of Light have split the world in two. In this Dark Territory, daytime never comes. People live in eternal twilight, relying on the moonlight.

…I was so busy thinking about these things to escape reality that I found I had already reached the top of the stairs.

The time has finally come, huh? I thought, as I called out.

“Um, Lady Reine…? Are you there…?”

No answer. I peered cautiously inside the temple. It was hollow. Forget a Goddess, I couldn’t even find anything resembling an altar.

Just as my tension began to fade into anticlimax, the world suddenly turned black.

It felt as if a blizzard had just swept past. When I opened my eyes, the scenery had completely changed. I was in a space of pure darkness, and in the center stood a woman of ashen beauty.

It was Reine. It was the Lady Reine from the legend era, exactly as she appeared in the Contrast setting artbook.

In person, her beauty was violent. Silver-ash hair flowing down to her waist, skin as white as porcelain, and deep violet eyes. She possessed a fragile yet majestic beauty, like a Gothic doll. I was so captivated I couldn’t find my voice.

“Who are you?”

But the bone-chilling voice that escaped her lips dragged me back to reality.

“Ah, um, I was chosen as the sacrifice…”

“You are not of the village.”

Reine muttered in a voice that sounded utterly uninterested in me, then suddenly pointed her right arm toward the sky. A dark aura began to swirl around her hand.

“They dare mock me…”

“Wait, wait, wait! What are you doing!?”

The look of irritation on Reine’s face made it clear: that was an attack—no, a divine punishment. However, it didn’t seem directed at me. She was so disinterested in me that I wasn’t even worth her wrath.

“I shall punish them. The people of the village.”

“Wh-Why!? If you want a sacrifice, I’m right here…”

“You are meaningless.”

“Meaningless…?”

What did she mean by that?

“A sacrifice is pain. It is to ensure that the humans do not grow arrogant. To ensure they do not take my grace for granted. Using an outsider as a substitute defeats the purpose.”

“Then… does that mean the sacrifice itself doesn’t matter!?”

“It matters. As a demonstration of loyalty to me.”

So, this Goddess… she wasn’t demanding sacrifices for some unavoidable reason like survival or maintaining her power. She just wanted to keep the villagers in a state of fear!?

Wait, now isn’t the time for analysis. Reine was about to rain down judgment on the village.

I have my grievances with that village for setting me up. But if she does this, Mina will be hurt too. I can’t let that happen. I have to do something!

“H-Hold on!”

“っ…!?”

In a desperate move to stop her, I threw myself forward and hugged Reine. A small, rational part of my brain noted how terrifyingly cold her body felt.

“You… I hope you are prepared.”

As expected, Reine’s indifference toward me vanished, replaced by intense hostility and rage. My body froze under her razor-sharp gaze and the first “bloodlust” I had ever felt in my life. But if I backed down now, it was all over.

“U-Um! Lady Reine, I think you should trust people more…!”

“What did you say?”

Her voice seemed to rumble from the depths of a blood-red abyss. The pressure was so heavy I almost regretted talking back, but at this point, I had already crossed the line.

“The people in the village, they all respect you! They say that everything they have is thanks to you!”

In truth, the Goddess Reine was properly worshipped in that village. When they told me “Being a sacrifice is an honor,” I wanted to scream, then why are you pushing the job on me? But it was true that they revered her.

“So, even without a sacrifice, they’ll be—gaff!?”

I tried to say they would be fine, but the words—no, my breath got stuck. At the same time, I felt an intense pressure around my neck.

The darkness was coiling around my throat. My body, which had been clinging to Reine, was lifted into the air against my will and pinned against an invisible wall.

“Silence. What could an outsider like you possibly know of those villagers? Do not spout groundless delusions before me…!”

It hurt. My vision was blurring. At this rate… I’m going to die.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness, the pressure on my neck suddenly loosened.

“Gah… cough… huff…”

“Well? Are you ready to admit you were wrong?”

Reine watched me struggle for air with a borderline-insane smile. I knew she was demanding my submission, but for Mina’s sake, I couldn’t nod.

“…Hmph, I see.”

Realizing I had no intention of breaking, Reine snorted with boredom and released the power that had been binding me in mid-air.

“Eh…?”

I collapsed onto the ground in the darkness, confused as to why she let me go. I probably looked like a complete idiot staring up at her. Whether she found that funny or not, Reine curled her lips into a smirk.

“I have decided I want to make you admit your mistake.”

“What… do you mean?”

“Humans who forget pain eventually forget gratitude and betray me. I shall let you live just long enough to witness that for yourself.”

The smile Reine wore as she said that was exactly like a Final Boss.