I Healed the Cold Dark Goddess’s Loneliness, and Now She Won’t Let Me Go! - Chapter 7

The next day. I headed back to the temple with a new dish in hand. With the power of the “greedy seasoning set” Lady Reine gave me, making something incomparably more delicious than before wasn’t that hard. Even if my skills haven’t improved much, modern seasonings are so “cheaty” that they can turn the tide on flavor alone.

“And so, here is a new dish!”

“I believe I told you I didn’t want it.”

As soon as I was pulled up to the upper stratum and presented the food, I got the same reaction as yesterday. However, having already tasted success, I wasn’t about to back down quietly.

“But I only finished this thanks to you, Lady Reine, so I really want you to be the one to eat it.”

Since she’s the one who gave me the seasonings, I wanted her to taste the result as a “thank you.” Also, she gave me way too much and I don’t have a refrigerator, so I really need her help finishing it. I offered it with a sentiment that was roughly 70% gratitude and 30% logistics. Reine stared at me in silence for a while.

“…”

Eventually, she gave in and reluctantly reached for the dish. She took a single bite.

This time, there was a slight change in her expression. Her eyebrows rose a fraction, and she looked a little surprised.

“…It is certainly significantly better.”

“Right!?”

I pumped a small fist in victory. Wringing a “delicious” out of Lady Reine was nothing short of a monumental achievement.

“Are you satisfied now? Then take it away.”

“Aww, come on!”

Apparently, she still had no intention of finishing the whole thing. Reine used her power to float the dish and push it back toward me. Well, I couldn’t force her to finish it, so I decided to move on to the main topic.

“By the way…”

“What is it?”

“I saw some people who said they were leaving here to go to Lord Sulug’s domain.”

The moment I said that, Reine’s expression changed. It wasn’t a violent flash of anger, but something dark and quiet—mocking, yet sorrowful.

“Sieg and Linda, I presume.”

Her tone didn’t even hold a hint of rage. Not feeling anger toward betrayal… does that mean she never had any expectations to begin with? If that’s the case, her attempt to smite the village the day we met seems a bit contradictory.

“Um… who?”

“Their names. Was I mistaken?”

“Ah—yeah, I think it was something like that.”

“It was.”

Reine began to speak slowly. Sieg was a young hunter, boasting the best skills in the village. Linda was a talented weaver. The two were lovers. Gradually, they grew tired of the insular village and began to yearn for a better life in the Domain of Light. Even though I hadn’t asked, Lady Reine shared a surprising amount of personal detail.

“You sure know a lot about them…”

“I am watching them, after all.”

“So, you remember every single person.”

Honestly, I was surprised. I had assumed Lady Reine saw the villagers as nothing more than insignificant specks.

“…Though lately, I have been watching only you, and the others…”

“Huh? What was that?”

“I said nothing. …Even though I went as far as to heal Sieg’s injuries once.”

“Wait, you do things like that, Lady Reine?”

“When he was gravely injured, his mother sat down below this temple for ages, claiming it was a prayer. She was noisy, so I granted her wish.”

Ooh~ She’s not honest about it, but it turns out prayers do reach her. Yeah, she really is kind. If it weren’t for the sacrifices, she’d be a perfect Goddess. Which means, now that she’s stopped the sacrifices, Lady Reine is the best. There’s no way she’s headed for a “Final Boss” downfall like this.

“…Hmph. And yet, they forget everything and crawl to Sulug. How ungrateful.”

A hint of thorniness returned to Reine’s voice, dragging me back from my optimistic thoughts.

“Do you see? That is the nature of humans. Have you finally changed your mind?”

“…? Oh! Right! We were talking about that!”

Come to think of it, she only let me live so she could show me humans betraying her and say, “I told you so!” To be honest, I was talking so fast that day just to save Mina-chan that I’d completely forgotten the actual terms of my survival.

“…You had forgotten even that?”

As Lady Reine looked at me with a face full of exasperation and maybe a tiny bit of genuine concern. A question suddenly popped into my head.

“Um, Lady Reine.”

“What?”

“The reason you demanded sacrifices was so humans wouldn’t take your protection for granted… right?”

“It was.”

“Then why do you give them your protection in the first place?”

Lady Reine’s eyes widened at the fundamental question.

If the sacrifices aren’t something she actually needs to survive or maintain her power, then there’s no reason for her to grant her grace to humans at all. Why does a God like her support their lives? If she were a God who found happiness in human joy like Lord Sulug in the game, I’d understand. But I couldn’t find a single reason why Lady Reine would bother protecting them.

“That is…”

The words caught in her throat.

Silence fell. I waited for an answer, but Reine remained looking down, saying nothing. It was as if she were thinking desperately, or perhaps there was something she simply didn’t want to say.

“…Um, Lady Reine?”

“Enough! It shouldn’t matter why!”

Just as I heard the first truly intense shout from her today, the next moment I found myself dumped back into the lower temple along with my now-cold food.

Landing on my butt on the stone floor, I thought back. Lady Reine had been at a loss for words. My intuition told me that there, in that fundamental question, lay a very important key.

“…But man, she’s definitely not going to give me a straight answer, is she?”

Under the unchanging moonlight, I whispered to myself. For now, I couldn’t think of any way to find out the truth.