The immediate threat seemed to have passed.
The animals which had comprised the body of the monster called an “erdgod” all seemed to be dead; they weren’t so much as twitching. Maybe after its “core” had been killed, they’d all been taken down with it. It was also possible that they were in thanatosis—animals sometimes feigned death when they sensed danger—but that would just mean that they feared Yukinari and recognized him as a threat. It was unlikely that they would suddenly attack.
In any case—
“Guess we don’t have to worry now.” Yukinari approached the girl in sheer clothing and grabbed hold of the chain that was connecting her to the iron stake. “Dasa, all okay?”
“I’m... uninjured,” Dasa answered plainly. She had never been very expressive to begin with, but after the death of her older sister Jirina, she had become even more doll-like. She seemed quite indifferent about herself, so if Yukinari didn’t ask, she was liable to stay silent, even if she was seriously injured.
“And you, you okay as well?” Yukinari asked the girl as he tore the chain from the stake.
“Ah—h—” The girl made a small sound of surprise. Her voice was full of bewilderment and hesitancy, and there wasn’t much of a sense of joy at being released. Or perhaps she was simply still shaken up from having had such a close-up view of that last battle.
“What? You don’t enjoy being chained up, right?”
The girl didn’t respond. Still sitting on the ground, she looked up at Yukinari’s face. For a while, her expression swung between surprise and fear, but eventually she began to nod her head firmly, as if she had convinced herself of something.
“Yes... Yes, I...”
“Seriously, what? Is there something on my face?” Yukinari had no idea what to make of this.
The girl simply mumbled quietly to herself instead of answering his question directly. “I see... I suppose things like this can happen.”
“Like I said, what are you talking about?” Yukinari asked again, and the girl raised her head and spoke to him.
“I must confess that I have never heard of a god with the form of a human, but... you must be this land’s new erdgod.”
“What...?” Now it was Yukinari’s turn to be bewildered. The girl didn’t seem to be joking or spouting nonsense. Her expression was dead serious. Lacking much of this world’s conventional wisdom, Yukinari couldn’t make sense of what the girl was telling him. “Dasa, please tell me what this girl’s talking about.”
Dasa’s expression remained neutral and she didn’t answer. It seemed less like she didn’t know, and more like she was thinking.
“My name is Berta. I am a shrine maiden who worships the erdgod of this land.” The girl paid Yukinari’s bafflement almost no notice at all. “I offer myself to you. Please bring this land tranquility and good harvests...” The girl in the gauzy costume rose to her feet for a moment, then put her hands together in prayer and kneeled in front of Yukinari.
“You offer yourself—”
Yukinari looked at the girl again. As mentioned previously, she was not naked, but the way she was dressed—if you could call it dressed—might have been far better than nudity at turning someone on.
Thanks to the sheer clothing, he could see all the outlines of her body; he could even see shaded patches due to the differing degrees of light penetrating through the cloth. It wasn’t much different from being totally exposed. Moreover, maybe because she had gotten a little involved in the previous fight, her clothes were torn in a few places and bare skin peeked out on areas of her body that should have been concealed. She was good looking, too. It would have been strange for a healthy young man not to find this arousing.
“Yes. Please, I am yours to do with as you will.”
“Huh? Really? I can? Well, I don’t really get it, but—”
Was this a gift? A traditional gift in her culture? Wouldn’t it be rude to decline something that had been prepared especially for him? As Yukinari pondered these vaguely stupid thoughts, he heard a metallic click behind him. Realizing that it was the sound of Red Chili’s hammer being cocked, he put his hands up and tried to make an excuse.
“Uh. I’m not, uh. Y’know. Respecting traditional culture is cool and all, but, uh, yeah, I can live without.”
Even he couldn’t make much sense of that one.
“...Stupid,” came a flat-sounding voice. Yukinari looked back over his shoulder to see Dasa lowering Red Chili—she had been pointing it into the air—and decocking the hammer.