Goddess in the Palm of My Hand
I stared quietly at the soft, squishy, utterly unresisting, warm, mini Love Goddess statue resting in my hand. It was small enough to fit comfortably in my palm, but the proportions were identical to those of an adult woman. No—calling it identical would be wrong. The sturdy, childbearing hips and rear. The heavy breasts that looked like they’d never let a baby go hungry. Yet the waist was slender, the limbs delicate, stirring both lust and the urge to protect. It was femininity and beauty refined to their absolute limit. Equating this figure to an ordinary adult woman would be far too cruel. And the face? Those pink eyes sparkling like embedded stars. The bridge of the nose, neither too high nor too low, gave off an air of mystery. The faintly smiling lips radiated a kind of maternal affection. To think I’d find a face the size of my fingertip this beautiful. It simultaneously provoked sexual allure as a woman, maternal warmth, and the desire to conquer and topple her right then and there. Nothing I’d seen until now could compare to how lovable the being before me was.
“…When the setting I only read about in text actually materializes, it’s this terrifying, huh.”
I’d thought the original marble-carved version was already ridiculously pretty, but this was on an entirely different level. While inwardly marveling, I examined what else had changed besides the overall impression. After the appearance that made it look like a real goddess rather than a statue, the next most striking thing was the minute details. It had already been sculpted to look like real fabric, hair, and skin, but now it felt like the real thing had been attached outright. First, the soft, springy, jiggly skin. For a moment I thought of the silicone material I’d seen often back on Earth. But this was different—far softer. A lone author living by himself naturally needs a silent companion. In that sense, there was a time when I studied all sorts of doll materials. It’s true that silicone feels good, but not to this extent. TPE material, which has inferior durability and can leach oils yet surpasses silicone in texture, was the same. This wasn’t an artificial sensation. It felt exactly like touching real human skin. The warmth made it even more convincing.
“Sniff, sniff.”
Just in case, I brought it to my nose, but instead of chemical smells, only a pleasant scent of skin greeted me. …Well, given that she’d already granted me a blessing to control my own body odor, something like this was probably trivial for her. The skin alone was shocking enough, but it didn’t end there. Next came the hair. Wavy pink locks cascaded down to her waist like flowing waves. Yes—waves. Astonishingly, the Full River Goddess statue’s hair was no longer stone but actual hair-like material! Each strand had the living texture of hair, on par with or even better than Elly’s, who spent a fortune on meticulous hair care. I plucked a single strand and gave it a light tug; it showed no sign of coming loose. It was as if it had always been part of the same body. At this rate, I wouldn’t have to worry about sudden hair loss from a single mistake like with my girlfriend mk·3.
“Hoo.”
I took a deep breath and finally examined the clothing. It was an ancient Greek-style garment made from a single wide piece of cloth, reminiscent of a toga. Surprisingly, this too had transformed into real fabric material.
“…No way.”
On a whim, I flipped the goddess statue upside down and peeked underneath. Before, it had been impossible because everything was fused as one, but now… it should be possible! Flutter.
“Agh!”
Unfortunately, the angle only let me see up to her thighs; I couldn’t confirm the panties. In a rush, I tried to bend her knees slightly, but the legs didn’t budge at all. Apparently, there were no joints installed.
“Haa…”
What’s the point of a figure if you can’t see the panties??? This makes “practical use” impossible!!! Suddenly the world felt hateful. Feeling disappointed, I kneaded the soft goddess statue’s breasts while checking one by one for any other functions. After a long while, I’d examined everything there was to see, but nothing particularly impressive stood out. At best, it had become a holy relic that emitted a faint divine power, could once a day trigger that power to create a mini sanctuary that boosted physical abilities and regeneration, could serve as a hand warmer on cold days, and when placed in its dedicated case, the lighting would become an RGB light that smoothly cycled through all colors in sequence. Beyond that, there really weren’t any notable effects. A love doll… no, an onahole… that’s not right either. Anyway, for something that had built up so much anticipation, the upgrade was pretty underwhelming.
“She told me to watch over it, so I wondered if it would do something like a divine descent, but nope.”
It was just a doll that was ordinarily pretty, cute, lewd, and pleasant to touch, yet because it bore the appearance of a goddess, it gave off a strange sense of immorality.
“You gave me trash again! I’ll get my revenge someday, Love Goddess!!”
Shouting that, I carefully stroked the goddess statue in my hand. Then I placed it in its dedicated case, let it shine with flashy RGB lighting by my bedside, and slipped the final second 4-star item—the large-capacity subspace ring—onto my index finger. This was also an incredibly useful item, but since I already knew its purpose and usage, there was no need to test it. The twin-dagger clan auntie who’d kidnapped me before had used one, and Rydia wore one on each finger to summon whatever weapon she needed at the moment. I could use mine the same way. The only difference was the much larger capacity.
“Hyah.”
After infusing a bit of mana, I felt a strange resistance at my fingertips. I began stuffing the remaining items inside one after another. The mana herbs and recovery herbs I couldn’t finish today, various potions, arrows, the Unicorn Dagger, and the skinning dagger. I also tossed in a few throwing weapons I’d deliberately avoided using because they made my body heavy. There were more things I could add, but considering monster byproducts from hunting, it was better to leave some space empty. Just as I nodded at that thought, the RGB goddess statue illuminating the bed caught my eye.
“No way…?”
She didn’t give it to me so I’d carry the statue around everywhere, right?? I thought it over, but I couldn’t bring myself to deny it. There was already a precedent of someone else ending up with a fully maxed-out goddess statue after I handed mine over. I decided to just carry it with me unless it was really inconvenient.
“Starting tomorrow, not today.”
Muttering that like an excuse to someone, I lay down on the bed. The Love Goddess statue, bathed in brilliant light, looked down at me with a benevolent smile. …It was oddly burdensome. But perhaps because of the faint divine power flowing from it, sleep came easily. The sensation of my body floating and my mind growing hazy as I slipped into slumber. In my fading vision, I thought I saw the corner of the goddess statue’s mouth twist into a crooked smile, as if everything had gone according to plan…. It must have been a trick of drowsiness.
I woke up after a good night’s sleep. Sunlight so bright it stung my eyes streamed through the window; the weather must be clear.
“A perfect day for killing people.”
Nodding to myself, I sprang out of bed. With practiced movements, I fully armed myself, took the onah— I mean, the goddess statue—out of its case and stored it in the subspace, then headed downstairs. But the usual Elly was nowhere to be seen; only Rydia and Karen were there.
“Huh? Where’s Elly?”
“Elly-senpai went to get her equipment.”
“Aha? So we’re waiting here and going together?”
“Yeah. Karen the Inquisitor will wait a bit and head in alone later, though.”
“You’re worried about the eyes planted in the guild, right?”
“Correct. We’re meeting at Safe Zone 26, so I plan to go ahead, wait there, and join up then.”
“Sounds good!”
Karen, who had been offering a devout prayer to the goddess statue I’d given her, unclasped her hands and spoke.
“There’s one thing you should know, Yona-nim.”
“What is it?”
“By the time we arrive, their forces may have grown stronger than what I witnessed. After all, I stirred things up quite a bit.”
“That’s true.”
“Therefore, if it seems our strength is insufficient, we’ll aim to disrupt the ritual rather than annihilate the heretics. If even that looks difficult, survival will be our top priority.”
“I understand. In that kind of situation, there’s no helping it.”
If it were just me, fine, but if it meant risking the lives of precious people like Elly or Rydia… well, it wasn’t worth that. Besides, it’s one thing for me to risk my own life, but I couldn’t ask others to stake theirs for me. While I was nodding, Elly appeared—not in her usual bartender outfit, but wearing a skintight black bodysuit. One sleeve was tied off so the empty arm didn’t dangle. Rydia raised her hand toward Elly, whose muscular physique was fully on display.
“Elly-senpai. Yona’s wearing expensive gear I’ve never seen before.”
“…Huh?”
Rydia drove the point home at the tilting Elly.
“An invisibility cloak that’s hard to get even from the Magic Tower, magic-infused boots, and a top-grade subspace ring. Elly-senpai, did someone rob your storage?”
“I don’t have any of that equipment, though?”
“This is a baseless accusation! As if I would steal Elly’s gear?!”
Elly tilted her head the other way while I shouted indignantly. Rydia simply blinked with her usual deadpan expression.
“Then where did you steal it from?”
“Stop assuming I stole it in the first place!”
“You didn’t?”
“Of course not?!”
I let out a deep sigh and pointed at Karen, who was glancing around beside us.
“I received money from Inquisitor Karen yesterday, prayed earnestly to the Love Goddess before bed, and it suddenly appeared. That’s how devout a man I am.”
“Mm-hmm. If it’s Yona-nim, that’s entirely possible.”
Karen nodded. Then she began praying toward me this time. …She actually believed that?