The Goddess's Response
The next day after arriving at the imperial palace...
I ignored the emperor’s message to have lunch together and headed instead toward the temple near the palace.
Deep down I had already given up on receiving any answer from the goddess...
Even though I had visited the temple almost every day since leaving Moncrito Kingdom and offered prayers, she still refused to answer me, so I had given up completely.
Yet here I was again, forced to return to the temple.
The emperor—my childhood friend—and his entire family had decided to force me into marriage with Alex, which made my desperation for the goddess’s response grow even stronger.
Right now he was being polite, but who knew when his feelings would change and he would resort to political pressure?
If rumors spread, my life would become unbearable, and that frantic urgency was what had led me back to the temple.
The imperial temple was far grander and more awe-inspiring than any other kingdom’s, as expected.
From what I had heard, this temple was the second largest after the Goddess’s Palace in the Holy City.
And so...
Even from the grand square in front of the temple, its overwhelming majesty could not be adequately described in words.
At the center of the square stood a colossal statue of the goddess, and surrounding it were statues of saints and saintesses who had once walked the land, arranged like a magnificent work of art.
Passing through the artistic vista, I walked straight into the main hall of worship.
After all, she probably wouldn’t answer me anyway...
[It’s been a long time, Ji-woo? No… Ethan? Edwin? Lucas?]
“Right now I am Lowell.”
It had been ages since I last heard the goddess’s voice...
Thinking about how she had ignored my prayers all this time, I almost wanted to curse her out, but once I heard that smooth, gentle tone, every trace of anger simply melted away and I couldn’t bring myself to say a single word.
[Sorry, Lowell. Because your name keeps changing…]
The goddess listed my original name, then every name I had been called as the hero, and finally apologized before using my current name.
If she knew I had slain the Demon King three times and was still struggling this badly with the hero who refused to listen to me…
At the very least she should remember my name, right?
Even though our conversation hadn’t yet reached the main point, her attitude toward me felt so cold that I deliberately showed it.
[You’ve suffered a lot because of me. I’m sorry. Even I have my own personal circumstances…]
“Do you know about the current situation here?”
[Yes. It looks very serious.]
“The hero won’t listen to a word I say, so helping him from the side is useless for defeating the Demon King. Besides, I’ve been exiled from the hero’s party.”
[.....]
“I’ve done everything I can. Please send me back to the original world. I can’t live here anymore.”
[If Lowell-sama returns like this, what will happen to this place? The Demon King will launch a full-scale attack any day now…]
“That’s not my concern. I’m only supposed to help the hero defeat the Demon King… Since the hero refuses, doesn’t that mean my duty is already over?”
[T-that’s true, but… Lowell-sama, please don’t do that. Won’t you defeat the Demon King for me? I’ll give you any reward you want.]
If I were the one to defeat the Demon King, I wouldn’t have to worry about the annoying hero refusing to listen to me at all. With just the Holy Sword, I could storm the Demon King’s Castle right now and cut off his head.
“Fine. But you have to give me a reward in return.”
[Of course! If you want, you can keep living as Lowell here.]
“Yes!!? Don’t even joke about saying something like that!”
[Why not? You’re an incredibly beautiful high elf who’s far superior to humans, after all.]
“I’m already pretty upset because I got a proposal from the crown prince yesterday.”
[Why? Crown Prince Alex is going to become the emperor soon. He’s handsome, has a great personality, and is a hundred-point perfect husband material, isn’t he?]
“Your Highness the Goddess? Hundred points? Two hundred points? I just want to go back to Seong Ji-woo from the original world.”
[Why do you want to return to that world so badly? In that world you’re a complete nobody from a poor family with no popularity at all… Compared to here, if you just settle down, you could live as a top elite, a diamond in the rough. Didn’t you see the people cheering when you first arrived at the imperial palace?]
Whether I was a top elite or a nobody, popular or not, was not the issue at all.
My family still remained in the original world,
and Choco, my beloved dog, was waiting for me at home,
and the fourth Demon King 4 was about to be released soon, which I had to play.
And most importantly, if I stayed here, no matter how I looked at it, something would happen with Alex.
[Are you doing this because of the crown prince’s proposal?]
“Well… yeah… that’s part of it…”
[I knew this would happen, so I prepared a gift for you.]
“A gift?”
[Yes. I’ll come looking for you soon, so look forward to it. When the time comes, you can decide whether to return to the original world or not.]
No matter what kind of gift the goddess had prepared, my final decision would remain the same,
but I still couldn’t help being curious about what it was.
“What on earth is that gift going to be…”
[Oh my, it’s already that time? Take the gift first and then we’ll talk again. Lowell-sama. Goodbye for now…]
“Wait! Just a moment! Your Highness the Goddess!! My Holy Sword is…!!”
I chased after the goddess’s fading voice, desperately calling her,
but the space she had created changed back into the worship hall and the light that symbolized her began to vanish.
“Haaaa…”
I was sitting in the prayer pose on the hall’s chair when I stood up with a deep sigh and glared at the goddess’s statue in the center of the hall with eyes full of resentment…
She told me to deal with the Demon King, but she hadn’t given me the Holy Sword I needed to do it.
“Damn it…”
The curse that naturally slipped from my lips reached the ears of the people who had rushed in upon hearing that I had appeared in the temple,
and because of that, the stares I received from them became unbearable. So I left the temple straight away.
People had gathered in the square in front of the temple, wanting to see me again,
and the moment I emerged, everyone shouted my name with cheers.
“Lowell-sama!! We love you!!”
“Lowell-sama, please look over here!”
“Waaaaah!!”
No matter if male or female, young or old, so many requests poured out…
Look this way, look that way, wave your hands, shake hands…
Countless demands flew around, and the more time passed, the more people crowded in, turning the surrounding area into a chaotic mess.
That was when…
“Make way!!”
A thunderous, low voice echoed across the entire square, and an imperial knight unit charged through the crowd toward me, clearing a path around me.
“Lady Lowell, are you all right? Were you hurt? If you were planning to leave the palace, you should have said so earlier.”
With the knights, Alex approached me and started scolding, then led me straight toward the palace.
“Is it because of me? I… I’m sorry about yesterday. I was swept up in the mood without realizing it…”
Prince Alex apologizing for what happened yesterday.
Anyone could make a mistake, so if he simply pretended it never happened and went back to the old friendly relationship between the vice-captain and the lady, I could have forgiven him easily.
But…
“I can wait as long as you want. Whenever you decide, just say the word…”
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I have no interest in you.”
[.....]
When I answered so bluntly before Alex could say anything strange, the shock was so great that he stood there staring at me blankly.
“Then I’ll go ahead…”
Whether other people would call me cool or heartless, I didn’t care.
I left Alex there and headed back to the palace alone.
*
Since the goddess had granted permission,
all that remained was to defeat the Demon King by myself…
But because that damn goddess had vanished without giving me the Holy Sword, charging straight into the Demon King’s Castle like that was probably impossible.
No matter how skilled I was with a sword or how many times I had slain the Demon King in the previous world, fighting him without the Holy Sword would be far too heavy a burden.
The Holy Sword’s light attribute was one thing, but when I truly fought the Demon King I would have to wield it with brutal strength, and the durability I could handle was, as far as I knew, limited to only the Holy Sword.
Even though the rapier Cariel had given me I had treasured and used without breaking it, if I had used a few strong techniques against even a slightly tougher opponent, it would have broken by now—ten times over.
In short,
what I needed most right now was to find a sword with durability strong enough to replace the Holy Sword,
and I headed to the imperial palace’s grand library to search for it.
Among the libraries on the continent, the grand library was known to hold the greatest number of books, and it matched that reputation with its enormous building.
Inside, the walls were completely covered with books reaching all the way to the ceiling, creating a magnificent sight.
And this place wasn’t only books…
“Lowell-sama? Lowell-sama!! What are you doing here?!”
Princess Isabel, the emperor’s younger sister, was there too.