The God of Love’s Unsettling Embrace

Frankly, it wasn’t a pleasant sight at all. A man, bare except for his underwear, was attempting to look utterly captivating, legs gracefully crossed, as he reached out to caress my face.

I subtly pulled my head back, deliberately adopting a blunter tone.

“Why are our kids like this?”

“If you settle the payment first.”

Despite his handsome features, he was undeniably a man. I utterly loathed the way his heart-shaped pupils shimmered, reminiscent of some lewd manga. Ugh. Still, having manifested a deity, I couldn’t possibly refuse to pay the toll.

Summoning a god into a physical manifestation demanded a separate price, distinct from any offerings. The exact toll varied with each deity. Isanta, as the God of Love, invariably exacted a price as unique as he was. This was precisely why I had been so unwilling to summon him!

Isanta shifted his posture. He perched on the edge of the desk, cupping my face in both hands, and slowly leaned closer. Then, he pressed his lips to mine.

His hot breath clung to my skin, mingling as if to sear it. A moist tongue grazed my lips, then slid inside, beginning to explore with unrestrained liberty.

‘Damn it! I knew my sensory sensitivity had increased, but kissing him in this state was absolutely dreadful! Why was he so unnecessarily skilled at this, anyway? I refused to feel anything like this while being kissed by a male character!’

He coiled around my retreating tongue, capturing it, and devoured the pooling saliva. The squelching sounds, reminiscent of mating animals, made my face burn with a sudden flush.

Deciding enough was enough, I swiftly pushed Isanta away and scrambled backward.

“I-is that e-e… enough now?!”

“It’s a shame, but since it’s been a while, shall I let it go at this? Especially since our children made a mistake—”

“Th-th-then, what is this?”

My voice cracked into a reedy squeak, yet I had no time to dwell on it. The lingering, cloying sensation in my mouth, as if I’d burned it, was driving me utterly mad! I conspicuously huffed, furiously scrubbing my mouth with the back of my hand.

Still perched on the desk, Isanta sighed, his gaze drifting past me to his subordinates.

“Our children have done quite a ‘cute’ thing, haven’t they? It seems they wanted to eliminate you and claim all the credit for defeating the demons themselves.”

“Would that even work? What would they do if the demons appeared again?”

“Precisely… They attempted to damage those children you’re with, hoping to discover the method for capturing demons.”

‘Heavens. That’s yet another reason I never could have imagined.’ This was the temple of the God of Beauty, a domain dedicated to aesthetics. Isanta despised all forms of barbarism; he would never tolerate the destruction of beauty or the act of extinguishing its light.

Throwing me into the corpse waiting room? I could concede that point a hundred times over. Given my stamina was nearly a third depleted and my appearance undoubtedly unsightly, I could, albeit grudgingly, understand being temporarily removed. I was angry, but I could understand.

But to cowardly steal someone else’s credit? That was hardly a beautiful sight. Taking the three of them was one thing, but committing such ‘ugly acts’ went against all aesthetics. And to do such a thing within the very temple dedicated to the God of Beauty?

As I adopted a horrified expression, Isanta, like a clown, comically exaggerated a mournful tone, covering his cheek with one hand.

“To commit such sickening and ugly acts in my domain, the domain of the God of Beauty… My disappointment, at this moment, is truly immense.”

“But it’s your domain! Our kids have been completely flattened like sticky rice cakes!!”

“Everything gathered here is mere chaff, utterly lacking any proper medium. I truly don’t know how my temple ended up like this—unable to light fires, with those hideous soot stains smeared everywhere, and only cheap oil torches hanging.”

“Hamman was like that too. What’s wrong with you all? Surely, you haven’t all been messed up, have you?”

‘Something was profoundly wrong. Everything here was incredibly strange, utterly broken.’

The game shouldn’t change. It must always maintain its state, regardless of the player’s presence, for that is the very nature of a game. It is the player’s role to enact change, not for the world itself to crumble. Even if it were for plot progression, it needed a reasonable justification and had to be acknowledged by the player. I had absolutely no idea. Nothing like this had ever occurred in my nine years of playing!

“[Lo]—”

“Hamman’s group is actually better off. They at least listen when I send a revelation. Our children, however, can’t even receive revelations. They’re simply too insignificant.”

Suddenly, Isanta pulled me into an embrace from where he sat. Caught off guard and held in his arms, I completely forgot what I had been saying.

Perhaps it was his manifested form, or perhaps my sensitivity was excessively heightened, but he felt incredibly hot. His body temperature was unnaturally high. Opening my status window, I saw [Cogi Aftermath] displayed.

‘Ah, right. When the potion’s effect wears off, I become sensitive.’

‘Wait a minute!? This was only supposed to be double in the settings! It was merely double in the lore, but originally, the sensitivity was meant to increase by a minuscule amount, barely a fingernail’s worth!’

I clutched Isanta’s shoulders, attempting to pull free.

“Let go. Your subordinates are getting messed up.”

“It doesn’t really matter. They were never truly worthy in the first place.”

“Our kids are faint-hearted; they panic at the sight of blood.”

“Considering that, they’ve already had quite a commotion.”

Come to think of it, there were those guys earlier, speared through the shoulder and pinned to the floor. I’d completely forgotten. I subtly rolled my eyes, then tapped Isanta’s arm, and only then did he release me.

I pulled out all the impaling spears with a series of soft pops and sparingly sprinkled potions on them. For some reason, I felt it was a waste to use it all up, especially since they had tormented our kids.

A moment later, those who regained consciousness crawled towards the door, gasping for breath. In front of the door, a crowd of subordinates still stood, trembling, their spears still pointed forward.

“That’s strange. Why aren’t they breaking their battle stance? Their own god is right in front of them.”

“They can’t even recognize my divinity. Their eyes are completely blind.”

“Don’t lie. Even so, could they really be that messed up?”

A beautiful, tinkling laugh resonated through the space. No one present could possibly have failed to hear it.

“I thought that once they were safe, they would share more love, find happiness, and create many wonderful things. Instead, they simply tear each other apart. Taraki even suggested we should just wipe them all out and re-educate them from scratch, claiming that since they’re well-fed and comfortable, no one shows passion for truth anymore.”

“And we’re currently trying to prevent that, because it would be truly troublesome if Taraki were to turn into an evil god.”

Taraki is the God of Wisdom and Knowledge. He is a God of Truth and possesses a benevolent attribute, yet he leans closer to neutrality. He treats seekers well, irrespective of good or evil. He appears as a very large and beautiful white owl.

He is said to show his human form to his apostles, and I saw it once after becoming a sage. I even invited him to visit, but magic didn’t align with my concept, so I simply ignored the invitation to his paradise. His human form was that of a muscular, middle-aged man, akin to an athlete.

Imagine him in that massive body, clad in an elegant white suit and a monocle. He looked as though he could rip off a bull’s head, not merely a pen cap. No matter how handsome he might be, that’s terrifying, isn’t it?

“Y-you, you demon! W-what have you done to our Holy Pope!!”

“Release your wicked trickery, now!!”

What was this? Was it because their comrades had been freed? The priests, who had been silent until now, finally began to squawk, pointing their spear tips inward. Yet, their limbs trembled so violently that they couldn’t bring themselves to step inside.

“Hey, look. This is clearly Isanta, isn’t it? Is this your first time seeing a manifested deity?”

“It’s useless to try and deceive us with such profane words!”

“My divinity is overflowing like this, and you can’t see it?”

The scent of roses was so potent it made my nose tingle, yet they couldn’t smell it? How utterly absurd. As I stared, baffled by the situation, Isanta chuckled, rose from his seat, and clung to my back.

“I told you. They’re blind even with open eyes. They can’t even recognize their own god. They can’t see the holy statue you so graciously made for me, so they pray and bow to your statue placed in front of it instead.”

“They’re insane. Absolutely, completely insane.”

“Demons, ignorant of creation, must be stopped. Yet, I also question what meaning there is in a world where such foolish beings exist. I’m even tempted, as Taraki suggested, to simply sweep them all away and raise new ones.”

A warm heat clung tightly to my back. That warmth then wrapped its arms around my stomach, embracing me. I flinched, my body instinctively recoiling. Isanta, still hugging me from behind, rested his chin on my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

“Can the aesthetics created by such beings truly be beautiful? At this rate, I’ll be the one to fall first. Nothing has been satisfying.”

The hands that had been embracing me slowly snaked up my body, caressing me.

“I’ll treat you well. Hm? Debora doesn’t do anything for you anyway, does she?”

[You resist Charm Lv50. Resistance failed.]

‘Damn it! I let my guard down because he was in his manifested form, and I fell for it again! Last time, I got caught in paradise and suffered for ten days…!!’

Just then, with a sudden clang, the window shattered. A swarm of black crows poured in through the broken frame, instantly turning the room into a chaotic mess.

They particularly focused on pecking and attacking Isanta’s manifested form.

[Due to the user’s abnormal status, Charm is dispelled.]

Crows are the symbol of our Goddess of Fortune, Debora. I immediately pulled a Shadow Coin from my inventory, clutched it tight, and shouted at Isanta, who was rolling on the floor, being pecked by crows.

“Why do you say our Goddess doesn’t do anything? At the very least, she grants us the fortune to repel perverts!”

“Ow, ow, ow! Debora! Don’t hog all the luck, share some! Isn’t this too much? Ow! Ah! It hurts in this manifested form!!”

Thank you! Thank you! Thank youuu—!!