I Healed the Cold Dark Goddess’s Loneliness, and Now She Won’t Let Me Go! - Chapter 5

I have very little sense of being a member of this village.

“Mina. You were born to be a sacrifice.”

Lady Reine is the God who grants protection to our land. It is said that in ancient times, she struck a bargain with the village to offer a young life every five years. The origins of this pact have long been lost, and the exact circumstances of its birth are unclear but the story of the terrible calamity that befell the village when the promise was once broken has been passed down with a lingering sense of pain.

And so, through years of offering sacrifices to Lady Reine, this village created a law. To ensure there would be no infighting when the time for a sacrifice came, families would take turns providing the child. Furthermore, the chosen one would be raised as a sacrifice from the moment of their birth.

Even the Village Chief’s house was no exception. Despite being the Chief’s granddaughter, I, Mina, was a being whose future was set in stone from the very beginning.

To ensure nothing happens to the offering before it is presented to Lady Reine, the sacrifice is raised with great care. However, that does not mean they are given affection. Instead, they are kept away from work to avoid danger, isolated from children their own age, and kept under house arrest until the day of the ritual. That is the life of a sacrifice.

“Mina… studying again, are you?”

“Grandfather… Yes. I have nothing else to do.”

I call it studying, but a sacrifice isn’t provided with a teacher. Based on the bits of knowledge Grandfather taught me on a whim, I simply spent my time developing my own understanding of mathematics. It was my only joy.

“To reach this level through self-study, you truly are a clever child, Mina.”

“Am I…?”

Grandfather would occasionally praise my intelligence. Since I didn’t know any other children, I didn’t know if I was actually smart or not, but every time he said it, he would let a certain phrase slip.

“Truly… why did it have to be you? Why did the turn for a sacrifice have to come exactly when a brilliant child like you was born?”

Grandfather would murmur words of pity, lamenting my status as a sacrifice.

“I am sorry Mina…”

“Why are you apologizing? I am happy just having you come to visit me like this, Grandfather.”

“…!”

My fate was decided; it couldn’t be helped, and it wasn’t something Grandfather should trouble his heart over. I had no complaints about spending my time in this closed-off world until the end came.

“There must be… some way…”

Perhaps unable to give up on my life even more than I was, Grandfather would agonize with a bitter expression. That sentiment alone should have been enough for me.

“So, you’re Mina.”

“And you are…?”

One day, a boy wearing an extraordinary aura visited me along with Grandfather.

“This is Lord Sulug, the counterpart to Lady Reine.”

“! Y-You are…”

Lord Sulug, the God who rules the Domain of Light, the twin to our Domain of Darkness. I had heard that while he does not grant us direct protection, he is a magnificent God worthy of our reverence. As I hurried to bow, Lord Sulug stopped me with his hand.

“There is no need to bow. A God who cannot save even a single girl like you isn’t worth your respect.”

“…”

The look in Lord Sulug’s eyes as he spoke was overflowing with compassion. That alone told me he was the “Good God” Grandfather had described. But…

Am I really such a pitiable existence?

“Mina. I hear you are the sacrifice for the next generation.”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel about that? Have you ever thought about running away?”

“I haven’t. It was already decided.”

“…I see.”

At my blunt answer, Lord Sulug closed his eyes in silence for a moment before flashes a smile that seemed designed to put anyone at ease.

“If you have any troubles, I want to be your help. I would be happy if you told me then.”

“I am honored beyond words.”

He was kind, but he was still a God. I made sure to remain polite, and the meeting ended without incident. After Lord Sulug and Grandfather left the room, I heard their voices through the door.

“Is there… is there no way you could take Mina with you…!”

“…No matter how much you ask, I cannot take a child who is not prepared to be saved. Besides, I’ve been telling Reine for three hundred years that she should stop this…”

Hearing that, I realized Grandfather’s intention in bringing Lord Sulug here. If Lord Sulug forcibly took me to the Domain of Light, neither the village nor Lady Reine could easily interfere. My life might have been saved as a result.

But if that happened, what would become of the village? If they couldn’t offer a sacrifice to Lady Reine, divine punishment would surely fall. They might start fighting among themselves to choose a replacement.

I felt a sense of relief that I had been able to brush off Lord Sulug’s temptation.

My closed world changed abruptly one day, just before the ritual was to take place.

“Nice to meet you! I guess I’m staying here now? Oh, my name is Haruno. Who are you?”

“…I am Mina.”

Without any warning, Haruno-san entered my world.

She seemed to have come from somewhere far away. Unlike the other villagers, she didn’t avoid me; unlike Grandfather or Lord Sulug, she didn’t treat me with pity. Perhaps because she had no one else to talk to, she began to talk to me constantly.

“Mina-chan, what are you doing? Is this… wait, math?”

“It’s arithmetic. It’s all I have to do…”

“…For some reason, I can read the letters and symbols. Ah, if you do this part like this, it’s easier to apply.”

“Eh… you’re right! Haruno-san, you’re amazing.”

“Well, this is barely middle school level.”

Haruno-san knew so many things I didn’t. She answered all my questions, and when there was something even she didn’t know, we thought about it together. I learned that thinking with Haruno-san was many times more fun than thinking alone.

“Um… Haruno-san, you have your own room, don’t you?”

“I do, but it’s more fun being with you, Mina-chan. Do you hate it?”

Before I knew it, Haruno-san had started staying in my room until it was time to sleep.

“I don’t hate it.”

Being with Haruno-san was nothing but fun. But…

“It’s a little scary.”

I was afraid I would forget my “normal” those days of waiting for a maid who wouldn’t even speak to me as she brought my food, or for a Grandfather I didn’t know would even come.

“What’s this? Are you scared of ghosts? It’s okay, I’m right here!”

“Waaaah!?”

As I turned my back, Haruno-san suddenly hugged me, and a loud cry escaped my lips.

“Ah, s-sorry! Did you actually hate it?”

“I don’t hate it…”

I held onto Haruno-san’s hands as she tried to pull away, desperately not wanting her to leave.

“…Why am I…”

Even as I questioned my own actions, my vision began to blur. I didn’t understand what was happening to myself, but I didn’t want Haruno-san to misunderstand, so I desperately fought back my tears.

“Really? Well, if you don’t hate it, maybe I’ll just stay like this~ Ahaha, it’s like I have a little sister… wait, is that too presumptuous of me? You’re way too pretty.”

“Little… sister…”

“No, wait, I got carried away! By the way, Mina-chan, do you have any real siblings?”

“Eh, ah, a younger brother…”

I have a brother. Or so I heard from Grandfather. He is being raised as a normal child in the house of my father and mother, the son and daughter-in-law of the Chief and not here. I had heard that I had a brother I had never even met. I shouldn’t have felt anything when I first heard it, but for some reason, the tears started to overflow even more.

“I see, a brother… I bet he’s a total hottie then…”

“Uugh… Haruno-san… sob…”

“Eh!? W-Wait!? Did I step on a landmine!? You did hate it!?”

Haruno-san panicked as I finally broke down. Even though I felt sorry, I couldn’t stop. I had finally realized that I had been starving for this warmth.

That day… no, from that day on, I began to sleep in Haruno-san’s arms.

But realizing how weak I was didn’t change my fate. A wish I had never considered before began to sprout, the hope that the day of the ritual would never come. Yet, if it meant protecting Haruno-san from divine punishment, I started to think I wouldn’t mind offering my own life.

“Mina, this will save you. It’s for your sake…”

Grandfather made the unilateral decision to make Haruno-san the substitute sacrifice.

It was only then that I felt something called “rage,” and at the same time, I realized how sinful I was.

Haruno-san would be gone. I would be left behind in a world without her. I couldn’t bear it, and I couldn’t forgive it.

Grandfather must have felt the same way about me. Without even knowing that, I had accepted being a sacrifice as “destiny” and “fate.” Because I hadn’t realized his pain, it had come to this.

Haruno-san. Please forgive me. For pushing my role onto you. Even though you are the one truly suffering, and I am the one who shamelessly had my life spared, I am just a foolish child who can do nothing but cry in your arms. I am so, so sorry.