“Let’s make a trade,” I smiled, still holding the staff. “Don’t ever try to involve yourself with Stella again. No plans to kill her. You’re worried about miracles vanishing from the world? Forget about it. That won’t destroy this world of yours. My world didn’t have miracles or magic, you see.”
“Do not speak beyond your place, ignorant human!”
“Which of us is the one who doesn’t understand, I wonder? Stella isn’t the type to wander about stealing souls. It was just a coincidence I ended up in her staff, wasn’t it?! It’s wrong to try and call her an evil witch!”
“Well-spoken for a victim of hers. You bark well for a dog that doesn’t know the true nature of witches.”
“Like it matters! If you’re stuck on Stella, I’ve got plans of my own. What will the people think when they learn those slips of yours are cursed goods?”
That was the answer I had arrived upon.
Stella had sewn the slip from the library into the pocket of her skirt. The magibeast had bitten off the part of her skirt with the slip.
Why did magibeasts only go for Stella? Why had the magibeast suddenly evolved in the dungeon? Everything made sense if the slip was a cursed good.
“You may have gotten the slip to her in hopes she’d be eaten by a magibeast, but it backfired. Thanks to that, I realized their true nature. I was suspicious ever since hearing they’re kept under such heavy scrutiny despite being used only once a year.”
“That was not m—” the Goddess began, but I cut her off.
“What would happen if the people learned their Goddess is actually a witch, eh? Witches are evil beings that destroyed civilization itself. Your statues will be torn down, and the Descension Ceremony will never be celebrated again. Nobody will write any wishes onto their slips either.”
“YOU BASTAAARD!”
It was as I had imagined.
The Goddess used her statues to monitor the world. The slips, as cursed goods, were probably some other tool she used to rule the world. There was no way this blackhearted fraud was granting people’s wishes out of the kindness of her heart. She had to get something out of so many wishes being written on slips.
“You would dare threaten me, puny human? Me, a god?!”
“It’s not a threat. Like I said: I want to make a deal.”
She and I faced each other down, my hands still on her staff.
“You want to rule this world and be worshipped. Yeah, sure. Do what you want. I don’t care about any of that. I have only one request! Don’t lay a finger on my idol. If you can do that, I won’t tell anyone about who you really are. What else could an otaku ask for?” I scoffed.
The Goddess, however, maintained her furious expression. “And leave Stella the Witch to her devices? Absolutely not. Why must I let her go after driving her into this succulent corner? Do you understand how much ef—”
“You drove her into a corner?” I asked. That wasn’t something I could just shrug off. I brought my face right up to hers. “What do you mean, you drove her into a corner? All you did was put that slip in her path, right?”
“Hah!” the Goddess sneered. “Of course not. It is essential that any bug threatening to damage my world must disappear. I set magibeasts upon her home and orphanage so that she would die a dog’s death on the road. But alas, she is a roach, so she has managed to survive until now.”
I felt something snap in my head.
“All right. Seems like overlooking your sins is not an option.”
I tugged on the Goddess’s staff, and once it was in my possession, I started a chant. “O Spirits of Fire, grant me blazes to burn mine enemies away. Ignaria Sein!”
In the process of Stella’s practice, I ended up learning the prayers myself. A mass of fireballs formed by the ceiling of the throne room. There were less than what Stella made, but they were still more than enough to blast this piece-of-shit goddess.
The Goddess looked up at the fireballs and sneered. “Not bad for a human from another world. You shall have this deity’s praise.”
“Enough with the deity stuff. You did something nobody should ever do. You’re just pretending to be a god, AMANDA THE WIIITCH!” I roared, then swung down the staff.
The Goddess bellowed back as the fireballs rained down. “DO NOT CALL ME A WIIIIIITCH!”
There was a loud rustling sound. A bunch of paper came flying in from nowhere and gathered before the Goddess. Oh no. Those were slips...the cursed goods.
“Bind,” chanted the Goddess.
The slips erupted into black fire and morphed into grotesque beams of pitch-black light. Then they erupted, shooting to the ceiling and hitting each fireball.
“Disappear, human!” the Goddess declared, pointing a finger my way. New darkness formed and rushed toward me.
By the time I recoiled, I was already being yanked back by some powerful force. It was the chains I was wrapped in—they were pulling on me.
Both the beams of light trying to swallow me and the enraged visage of the Goddess began to move farther and farther away. I was being pulled down out of the divine throne.
Stella and I weren’t bound by mana. We were bound by magic...dark, black chains. And hey, what could be better? They were a lot sturdier than red string or whatever. I got the feeling these chains would never get cut.
And indeed, not even death had kept us apart. Despite going to heaven, I was now back on the ground—as a staff snapped in two.
This is...Antohsa’s garden. This sure is a sandstorm...
I looked around as best I could from the ground.
The limbs of magibeasts were strewn all about. The walls of the dungeon had collapsed. A sandstorm raged. Chains writhed about like snakes on the ground, forming what looked like a dark pattern. There was a girl collapsed nearby—Feena. She seemed to have fallen unconscious.
And sitting right next to me was a girl with silver hair.
“Give...ck...taku...”
She was muttering something under her breath with a hung head and an expressionless face. Pitch-black chains were spewing from her palms like a faucet.
Her disturbed state was enough for my heart to hurt.
“Stella,” I called, but she didn’t respond. “Stella! There aren’t any magibeasts anymore. Calm down!”
It was no good. She didn’t move an inch.
And what could I do as a staff to wake Stella out of her stupor? Only one idea came to mind. I inhaled deeply, and yelled...
“STELLA, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE UNIVEEERSE!”
“BWAAAH?!”
Stella’s face flushed and she came back to her senses. The chains disappeared, and the sandstorm stopped just like that. Whew. Success.
Stella, looking around, picked me up. “W-Was that... You’re alive, Otaku?! And wait, what’s a ‘universe’ anyway...?”
“It means my feelings for you are too vast for a single world like this.”
“Excuse me?! D-Don’t be stupid! You and I are...”
The way she turned her chin away with reddened cheeks was Stella as usual. I sighed in relief.
“I’m so glad you’re okay, Stella. So glad.”
“Ngh,” she grunted. Tears started visibly building up in the corner of her eyes. “You idiot, you big dumb stupid idiot! I...thought you... BWAAAAAAAH!”
I stiffened up when she hugged me. Or... I would have, anyway, if I wasn’t a staff. Y’know.
Stella rubbed her cheek against me as she sobbed. It was ticklish and warm. And with that, I finally felt like I was back.
“Sorry for worrying you. I won’t leave you again,” I said. I knew saying that would get her to drop me, but I couldn’t help myself.
Her reaction, though, was not what I expected. She gave a loud sniff and tightened her hug. “Obviously... You belong to me.”