A Goddess's Favor
I kissed Mary Jane.
Mary Jane said as she placed her hand on my thigh.
Until Mary Jane rested her hand on my thigh, I hadn't even realized how badly my leg was shaking.
Whew. I thought I'd broken that habit since I was a kid… but the shock must've hit me harder than I realized.
At Mary Jane's words, everyone's eyes turned toward the goblin standing quietly in the corner of the room.
The goblin simply shook its head slowly, as if conscious of our gazes.
I had already asked the goblin.
How it had managed to kidnap me despite the mushroom spores that were supposed to darken its night vision.
But the goblin knew nothing beyond its role as a jailer.
If not for Mary Jane's explanation that goblins were a strictly specialized and hierarchical race, the other Monmusu would have suspected the goblin even more.
This time, Mary Jane shook her head.
There wasn't a single thing wrong with what Mary Jane said.
Yeah. In our current situation, finding any truly effective plan beyond strengthening our defenses would be difficult.
Above all, my ranch had only just begun to stand on its feet again…
Papi, the pixie sitting on my shoulder, said as she gently stroked my cheek.
Mush, the mushroom girl sitting beside me, said as she tightly grasped my hand.
Mary Jane stood up and walked over to the window.
Then she hopped up onto the windowsill and pointed east.
At the tip of Mary Jane's finger, there was nothing but the faint shimmer of the horizon.
When Jibsun-i, the silky, added the name in a bored tone, Mary Jane scratched the back of her head sheepishly and continued.
…
…
…
A rather long silence followed.
They were all probably thinking the same thing: Does that even make sense?
How on earth do you recruit a goddess to a Monmusu ranch?
I walked over to Mary Jane, sat on the adjacent windowsill, and gazed eastward as I asked.
The sun had already passed the eastern sky and was nearing noon, but beyond the eastern horizon there was still nothing but a faint, shimmering haze.
Everyone jumped up from their seats in surprise at Mary Jane's words.
Even Papi, who had been sitting on my shoulder, got startled by my sudden movement and flew up into the air for a moment before settling back down.
Mary Jane hopped down from the windowsill and extended one sharp claw.
She drew a cross, then added a circle where the two lines intersected.
Mary Jane nodded.
Of course. There was no way gods would stop in a tiny village like this.
But they do pass through… This was an incredibly important opportunity.
But when?
It wasn't like the gods held meetings every Monday.
Jibsun-i said, tapping the table with her feather duster—tap, tap.
Mary Jane froze like a cat that had eaten its tongue and couldn't continue.
It seemed she hadn't thought that far ahead.
A gloomy atmosphere settled over the room once again.
But there was nothing we could do about it.
We didn't have any other options.
Everyone nodded at my words.
Whether it was Hariti or some other god, recruiting any of them would be equally difficult.
In that case, instead of sitting around the ranch feeling depressed, it was better to get out there and actively search.
Mary Jane continued speaking while gently stroking the belly of Lime, the slime who had become pregnant again in the meantime.
Jibsun-i shook her head as if she didn't know either.
Times like this made me regret that we didn't have a proper brainiac among the Monmusu.
Now that I heard it, it made perfect sense.
Borrowing a god's power was important, but how that power was actually used mattered just as much.
If it was the power to protect our ranch—where pregnancies and births happened constantly—then the will behind it had to be equally strong.
So that's why Mary Jane had recommended Hariti. What a clever girl.
The moment I mentioned putting breeding and pregnancy on hold, everyone let out a collective sigh as if they'd planned it in advance.
Hey, I'm disappointed too, you know.
There hasn't been a single day I haven't plunged my Big Ja into your pussies…
But it can't be helped.
Right now, our safety comes first—mine and the Monmusu's.
Watching the Monmusu promise to suppress their burning sexual desires, I felt a surge of love for them.
I wanted to protect these girls no matter what.
And I wanted to keep having sex with them and getting them pregnant for the rest of my life.
The rest of my life…?
Was I really starting to think about spending the rest of my life in this other world? Haha.
It looked like I had finally become a true Highlander.
After the meeting ended and everyone returned to their own tasks, only Mary Jane and I remained in my room.
I said, looking into Mary Jane's eyes as we sat facing each other.
Now that I thought about it, those green eyes and red hair… I could finally understand why my father had named this Nekomata Mary Jane.
Mary Jane shook her head from side to side and continued.
I had barely heard anything about my mother.
Yet here was Mary Jane, who knew things about her that even I didn't…
At some point, Mary Jane had moved from sitting across from me to sitting right beside me.
She took my trembling hand and held it tightly.
I looked at Mary Jane's face as she held my hand.
The one who made me want to live in this place.
The one who always stood by my side and helped me whenever I was struggling.
And… the one who truly wanted me with all her heart.
I pressed my lips against Mary Jane's.
