The Goddess Is Obsessed With Me

A warm sunlight streams down, and a matching warmth envelops the white temple.

"Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~"

The owner of the temple, Morione, seems to be in a cheerful mood, humming a tune, clearly in high spirits.

As she flips through a thick book she's been reading, she spends a time that feels usual yet uniquely different.

"Huh...?"

She senses something that doesn't quite fit in with the relaxed atmosphere and makes a face that doesn't match the serene environment.

"Oh my..."

The goddess, slightly intrigued but also showing a hint of displeasure, furrows her brows and strokes her chin.

"Faster than I thought... Is he the boy with the unusual fate? Even I can't make an accurate guess as to what will happen..."

"Even if I take away his conscious memories, surely his body remembers the hardships of his past life..."

Morione and Harold, between these two, she senses his own interference in the cage she had constructed.

"He's trying to break the spell himself and return to his previous life... What a remarkable tenacity..."

On one hand, she admires the tenacity, and on the other, she grits her teeth, showing a twisted obsession over the seed she had barely obtained.

"Why does he want his previous life... What could he possibly be aiming for..."

She throws questions that won't reach him, attempting to find answers herself, and makes a deep resolve.

"However, I won't let go of this opportunity that I've just gained... I won't easily release the man who will defy a strong destiny and save me from death in the future."

She clenches her teeth, exuding confidence that she won't lose to anyone or anything.

"My spell may weaken, allowing fragmented memories to return... but he still hasn't fully recalled his former self."

She clenches her fist, her vacant eyes and extraordinary aura chilling the warmth of the place.

"I need a stronger spell, even if it causes him a bit more harm, I must ensure that he's firmly imprinted when he returns."

She tosses aside the thick book she was holding and pulls out a small, worn book from thin air, beginning to flip through it.

"I'm sorry, Harold... Fool me for my selfishness."

She pre-emptively apologizes for the spell she's about to cast, intending to convey it to him later.

The scene changes to somewhere cool and damp underground.

"Are you conscious, Princess?"

A man cloaked in a robe approaches Marika, who has just barely regained her senses.

"What is this madness... The accusation of kidnapping royalty of a nation won't be easily dismissed..."

Her hands and feet bound, she's unable to move, but she draws upon her remaining pride and wariness, casting a sharp gaze at the unidentified group that has abducted her.

"That would be the case, yes. If caught, the punishment would be at least execution... So, Princess, you won't be seeing any good come from this."

The kidnappers understand the gravity of their actions and the consequences, but Marika bites her lip inwardly at their nonchalant attitude.

Why has this situation unfolded...?

The time rewinds a bit to after she had called Harold for a personal conversation.

She had sincerely apologized to Harold, and he had accepted her apology. After they finished talking and before the class started, just as she was about to return to the classroom, the moment Marika stepped out of his sight...

"Mmm... Mmm?!"

An unknown figure, who appeared out of nowhere, suddenly ambushed her from behind.

Without him noticing, the figure forcefully silenced her and pulled Marika into the darkness.

"!-- ! - ?!!"

She tried to resist fiercely, but ultimately, unable to mount a proper counterattack because of the darkness that wrapped around her like a living thing...

The darkness engulfed her consciousness.

"Even now, if you release me, we can pretend this never happened, right? You haven't seen my face clearly, so even if you issue a search warrant, the chances you'll be caught are very low, aren't they?"

Despite the worst situation, Marika maintains her composure and chooses the best course of action available to her.

Since physical resistance is impossible with both hands and feet restrained, she harbors a faint hope and attempts to negotiate with them, but...

"Sorry, Princess, if that were the case, we wouldn't have kidnapped you in the first place. Our goals are a bit grander than to be settled with mere negotiation."

A woman standing behind the man interjects into the conversation, making it clear that they have no intention of negotiating. Currently, only five people enter her field of vision, all dressed similarly, exuding a strange and dreadful aura that makes it impossible for her to guess their identity.

"I wonder if the other teams have successfully recovered the crystal? The sealed stone containing the soul of our god, Luceria..."

Upon hearing this, Marika's eyes widen as she realizes the identity of the mysterious group in front of her.

Luceria, a being known to anyone who has studied history, an ancient deity who, despite having vanished from the world, is still revered due to the severe history she left behind—a deity whose name is forbidden to be invoked lightly.

From their words and the malevolent aura, Marika could intuit that the people in front of her were heretics.

Knowing this fact, she feels the tension late but maximizes it, not daring to imagine what might happen to her now that she has been kidnapped by them.

"Don't speak carelessly! Because of you, our plan has been exposed!"

One of the men scolds his companion angrily for speaking out of turn, but another seems not to understand his emotions.

"Anyway, this princess will soon be sacrificed, right? There will be no problem if there are some hiccups since she's going to die for sure."

The casual mention of her execution makes her feel an even greater sense of dread...

Thump! Thump!

In her fear, she starts to struggle futilely.

"Princess, it's useless. Don't waste your strength, just cooperate."

She resists the nonsensical proposition with her actions, refusing to give up.

"Hmm... the appointed time has come. Believing that the other teams have done their part, we must now move to the altar."

A large man casually picks up Marika and begins to carry her across the dark underground passage following the woman's words.

"Let go of me! How dare you!!"

She tries to resist the desperate situation she's found herself in, but...

"Almighty ancient deity, hear my prayer and bind the movement of the one who rebels before me, Paralyze."

Her body becomes paralyzed by magic, and she's left with only her eyes open. "Huff.. Huff.. Huff..."

Am I running somewhere now?

Honestly, even I don't know what I'm doing at the moment.

But whether it's instinct or intuition, I'm moving my feet quickly with a clear sense of purpose.

The place I'm headed is some unpleasant location...

Even upon reflection, I don't know how I came to think of it, but very fragmented yet vivid memories are providing me information.

There's no concrete evidence, but Marika is currently kidnapped by heretics.

My purpose here is to root out and apprehend all heretics operating in the shadows.

They have kidnapped Marika and are planning to carry out some disgraceful act.

How I came to know this is a mystery to me as well.

It's like a memory I had forgotten suddenly came back to me...

I wish I could ask someone about it because I don't understand it myself, but the situation that's coming to my mind is so serious that I feel I must deal with this urgent issue first.

As I wander the academy streets, I come across a manhole cover that one might find if they look hard enough.

It appears to be just an ordinary route down to the sewer, but what I see is something different.

Thud...!

Normally, it should only be opened by authorized personnel, but that's just superficial...

"This place is unfamiliar, yet it feels certain."

Even though it's my first time here, I dash towards a precise destination as if I had been here several times before.

"Just wait a little longer, Princess Marika..."

With each increasingly urgent step deeper into the depths, the evil aura becomes clearer.

The power of darkness, which I've definitely felt before... This place was indeed the den of heretics.

Zap!

Amidst this, another surge of electricity brings more unfamiliar memories.

"Just a moment...!!"

As the vivid scene unfolds before my eyes, I start to speed up even more.

For some reason, I am convinced that Marika is in a situation that is perilously close to threatening her life.

In this urgent moment, slowing down now seems like it would lead to an irreversible disaster. But then...

Boom!

A flash in the corner of my vision and a magical sphere flies towards me.

"Who the hell are you?! How did you find this place?!"

The way was already late, and now it was proving to be anything but smooth.

"You've seen us, now you'll have to disappear from this world!"

A group of heretics attacks me.

"Tch..."

The situation seems like it won't resolve smoothly, and combat appears to be inevitable.

"I don't have time for this..."

I had already drained my magical power just a few minutes ago, and it wasn't fully restored.

The last thing I needed was a grand battle at the end of my journey, with no time to waste on it.

"Take him down!"

As soon as the heretics, who seem to be the leaders, command, spells begin to fly towards me. It's a place that would make an ordinary person's mind reel from the sinister atmosphere.

Everywhere, there's a purplish smoke, and in the center of the room, there's a suspicious altar with chains.

Click!

"Ugh..."

And Marika, tied with heavy chains on the altar as a sacrifice.

"The sacrifice is ready, now we just need to summon Luceria's soul."

The heretics seem relaxed, as if their work is done.

"Untie me!!"

But unlike them, Marika struggles even more fiercely, the atmosphere growing more serious.

After all, she might be offered up as a sacrifice.

"It's the princess's command, release me at once!!"

She knows it's futile but desperately spouts every excuse she can think of to escape the situation.

"Should we gag her to keep her quiet?"

But, of course, they only get more annoyed and resort to stronger magic to bind her.

"Leave her, she's on her way out anyway. Let her talk all she wants."

They chat idly, waiting for their colleagues to arrive.

"You're a bit late, did something happen?"

One heretic expresses concern over the delay.

"It's nothing; the guards took the essence we need to steal, so the middle process was bound to be difficult. Being late is to be expected."

He reassures the worried one, taking it easy.

"Ugh... It's wrong..."

Marika, whether out of energy to resist or unable to find a way out, seems to have half given up.

"Am I going to die...? Sink into darkness where I can never open my eyes again...?"

She murmurs to herself in a trembling voice, feeling the terror of the impending tragedy.

"Finally, her babbling mouth is quiet, much better."

But her despair is met with their mockery.

Thud!

Suddenly, the door bursts open.

"Have they finally arrived?"

"Good, they're not too late."

Voices filled with excitement come from a place Marika cannot see.

She faintly senses her fate reaching its endpoint and quietly succumbs to despair.

"Hellfire!"

Bang!

Soon after, an explosion is heard, followed by a gust of strong wind.

"Arghhh?!"

"Ryan?!"

Screams erupt.

"What?!"

What could be happening...? But a light that had dimmed inside Marika reignites, and her head, which had been hanging as if dead, is raised again.

"Princess! Are you alright?!"

A somewhat familiar voice reaches her.

She hardly dares to hope, but she feels a surge of tension and a glimmer of hope.

"Harold..?"

She whispers the name of a man that crosses her mind and bites her lip nervously, and the response she gets is...

"Don't worry! I have arrived!"

It was the man affirming her question.