The Goddess and the Grilled Meat

There was no room for misinterpretation. I had distinctly seen her wipe a bead of saliva from her lip as she breathed the words, “That looks absolutely delicious.”

My gaze remained locked with the floating woman's. Caelus, who was eating at my side, finally broke the silence. "What's wrong?" he asked, having noticed that I'd stopped eating to stare at the space over my shoulder.

“Did you hear that?” I asked him.

“Hear what?”

“Someone,” I elaborated, “just commented that something looked delicious.”

“Well, I assumed that was you. I definitely heard someone mutter it from your direction.”

That settled it, then. I cast another glance her way. She was now trying to hide her face behind her fingers, a rather futile gesture. A simple experiment formed in my mind.

I speared a piece of grilled meat with my fork and extended it toward her. Her eyes, visible between her fingers, darted from the morsel to my face. A heartbeat later, she lunged for it.

Swoosh.

I retracted the fork just in time. Her hand swept through the empty air where the food had been, unable to make contact, let alone grasp it. When she drew her incorporeal hand back, it was balled into a tight, trembling fist, her expression a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.

Odd. So she can’t touch things?

Munch. I popped the piece of meat into my own mouth. It was every bit as exquisite as it looked. I’d never tasted beef so tender; the juices burst across my tongue, the meat practically dissolving. It was superb on its own, though perhaps a touch more seasoning could have elevated it to true perfection.

As I was enjoying the lingering flavor, a sharp tug on my hair shattered my culinary reverie. It was her.

“No! Why are you eating it?” she shrieked.

Once again, the unwelcome attention of the entire tavern swiveled to our table.

“Hey, stop that! It hurts!” I hissed, attempting to offer her the steak once more. “Here, take it! Just take the food!” But it was pointless. She still couldn't so much as graze the meat with her fingertips, let alone take a bite. And yet, she could pull my hair with enough force to make me wince and her fingers could dig into my wrist, which at least confirmed she wasn't a product of my imagination.

“Axel? Is everything alright?” Kyoto asked, his voice threaded with concern. He had heard the shout and just witnessed my hair being yanked by an unseen force.

The floating woman now had her back turned to me, pouting. Every trace of her haughty, aloof demeanor had evaporated, replaced by the sulk of a child who had been denied their most-wanted Christmas gift.

I raked my fingers through my hair to straighten it. “It’s nothing, I’m fine.”

My gaze shifted to Mona, who was also watching the developing scene with curiosity.

“Mona, you have an inn upstairs, don't you? Are there any rooms available?”

“Oh? Yes, that's right. There’s one room left, right at the end of the hall.”

“Excellent. I'll take it.”

“Oh, right now~?”

“Right now. This is for the room and the meal.” I produced the pouch that held our group's Aetrium Crystal.

“Alrighty, just a moment while I get the shop's crystal~.” She hurried behind the counter and returned with a small, ornate key and their own Aetrium Crystal.

Holding my pouch near her crystal, I murmured the transfer spell, “Aetrium Senaris.” The convenience of not needing to reveal the crystal itself was a common practice for maintaining discretion. In our situation, with a high-value crystal that could easily attract the wrong kind of attention, it was an essential security measure.

The total bill was nearly 900,000 Aetris, almost half of which was for the round of drinks I had purchased for the entire tavern. I pushed the thought of the expense aside and accepted the key from her.

As she confirmed the transfer of funds, she chirped happily, “Thank you for your patronage, nya~.”

Ms. Latina looked at me, a question evident in her eyes. “You have something that needs to be taken care of?”

“I do. The three of you, please come upstairs after you've finished eating.”

“Aren't you going to finish your meal? Is it that urgent?”

“I'll get something else later. It isn't a matter of life or death, but it's better if we deal with this now.”

“I'll come with you,” Kyoto offered. “I seem to have lost my appetite after discovering it was Grokk flesh.”

Mona's cat ears drooped at his comment. Realizing his gaffe, Kyoto immediately tried to walk it back.

“Oh! It's not that the food is bad! I can't eat Grokk meat for... personal reasons. My apologies! I'll be sure to order something else later!” He seemed genuinely panicked. I wondered what the problem was; he had asked for beef, and the steak certainly looked and smelled the part.

Mona appeared to accept his explanation, nodding in understanding.

“I'm coming too, boss.” Old Voktah's plate was already scraped clean. The man was a remarkably efficient eater.

“If you're asking us to join, it must involve all of us, right? I'll come along, then,” Ms. Latina said, her tone softening with a hint of worry.

“We... we...” Elara and Elira traded looks of uncertainty. I could understand their anxiety; we had just offered them a meal only to abruptly get up and leave.

“It's alright,” I reassured them with a smile. “Please, take your time and enjoy your food. We'll be back down shortly. Just wait for us, alright? I have something I need to ask you both later.”

“All right, Sir Axel,” Elara replied with a courteous nod.

And so the four of us—plus one uninvited guest—made our way upstairs to the rented room. The floating woman trailed behind me, her simmering fury giving me the distinct impression that some unspoken rule tethered her to my side. Whatever was happening, the truth would soon come to light.

Inside the simple, clean room, we all remained standing. My focus immediately went to the pouting beauty hovering near the ceiling.

“Alright,” I began, breaking the tense silence. “We're alone now. You can speak freely.”

“...” She merely glanced at the other three, folded her arms, and scowled defiantly.

“Who are you talking to?” Ms. Latina asked, her eyes sweeping across the seemingly empty spaces of the room.

“I'll be direct,” I stated. “There is someone else in this room with us.”

“Another person? Where?”

“She appears to be invisible to all of you. I don't know why, but it seems I'm the only one who can see her. But I know she's not a hallucination—she's capable of touching me, and you all heard her shout downstairs.”

“That's true, I did hear a woman's voice,” Ms. Latina confirmed.

“Invisible...” Kyoto murmured, his mind racing. “Is she a ghost?”

“I don't know. Let's just ask her.” I addressed the empty air before me. “Miss, would you care to introduce yourself? Since they can hear your voice, I imagine you have the ability to let them see you, too.”

She remained stubbornly silent, her arms crossed in a posture of defiance.

“Fine. If you refuse to cooperate, I'll just have to ignore you. You can spend the rest of your existence anonymously watching me eat one delicious meal after another.”

“NOOO!” she shrieked instantly. The simple threat had worked like a charm.

Ms. Latina and Kyoto both jumped at the disembodied cry. Old Voktah, however, simply stood there as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

“Then please,” I said, pressing my advantage, “reveal yourself and tell us who you are.”

“Hmph.” She scowled, looking thoroughly put upon.

But despite her clear annoyance, she complied. A soft luminescence enveloped her for a moment, and judging by the stunned expressions that dawned on my companions' faces, I knew they could finally see her.

Ms. Latina gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “She's... beautiful...”

The floating woman possessed a beauty so profound it bordered on incomprehensible, enough to draw a gasp of awe from a woman as lovely as Ms. Latina herself.

I had to suppress a laugh at Ms. Latina's dumbstruck expression. Kyoto's reaction was far more theatrical. He abruptly threw himself at the woman's feet in what I would later learn was a dogeza—a full, sliding grovel.

“Grant me cheat abilities!” he roared, his face pressed firmly against the wooden floorboards.

We were all taken aback by his sudden behavior; even Voktah, who maintained a perpetually neutral expression, arched an eyebrow in surprise.

“Kyaaa!” the woman shrieked, instinctively darting behind Ms. Latina for protection.

“Oh, beautiful Goddess, grant me your blessing!” he pleaded with a fiery, religious fervor, completely oblivious to the fact that his audience had fled. “The power of flight! X-ray vision! Laser eyes! The ability to breathe fire! Invisibility! And... and...”

“Kyoto, calm down! You're scaring her.”

“No! You don't understand how important this is!” he retorted, still prostrated on the floor. “A goddess has finally appeared before us! This is the moment when people transported to another world are supposed to get their special powers! I have to ask now, since I didn't get any when I first arrived!” Realizing she had moved, he locked onto her new position and executed another flawless dogeza in Ms. Latina's direction.

“Kyaaa! Don't ask me! Ask him!” she cried out, cowering and pointing a trembling finger directly at me.

Why me?

“Both of you, calm down!” I commanded. The shouting ceased, though Kyoto remained in his prostrated pose and the woman stayed firmly hidden.

I turned my attention to the woman. “Alright. Let's start with your name, and an explanation for why you've been silent this whole time.”

“Why should I deign to speak to the likes of you? Hmph!”

“The likes of me? What did I ever do to you?”

“What did you do?” she shrieked, her voice dripping with venom. “You stole my precious from me! My very essence! And then you squandered it as if it were nothing!”

The sudden, wild accusation left me speechless. Kyoto looked just as baffled, but to my horror, Ms. Latina was now directing a venomous glare in my direction.

“You're a real scoundrel, boss,” Voktah chimed in, a wicked grin spreading across his face. The old man almost certainly knew this was a misunderstanding but couldn't resist the opportunity to fan the flames.

“I completely misjudged you,” Ms. Latina said, taking Voktah's bait. She spread her arms protectively, shielding the woman behind her. “To think you would defile an innocent woman and then shirk all responsibility... You don't deserve to call yourself a man!”

“Wait! This is a huge misunderstanding!” I protested, holding my hands up. “Miss, please don't say such ridiculous things!”

“What part of that was incorrect? You stole all of my power and authority, and then you wasted it for nothing!”

Okay, that made a little more sense.

“Power? Authority? I have no idea what you're talking about. You're going to have to explain, in detail.”

“It happened the very moment you arrived in this world! Don't you dare pretend you don't remember!”

“I honestly don't. I have no recollection of ever meeting you, let alone stealing anything from you.”

“You... you really don't remember?” Her aggressive stance softened just a fraction.

“Honestly. If you would be so kind as to explain, I would be very grateful. But first, allow me to introduce myself.”

“Fine...” she conceded. “First, I will explain. We shall see if it jogs your memory.”

She seemed convinced by my sincerity and promised an explanation. The tension in the room dissipated; Ms. Latina's glare softened, and the others relaxed. We all found places to sit, our collective attention fixed on her.

“I am Zephyra Lixil Linuel Makia,” she announced, her voice regaining its regal cadence, “the revered Goddess of Humankind in this world.” We were all stunned into silence. She was an actual goddess. Kyoto, in his own mad fashion, had been right all along. “Souls that arrive in this realm through the peculiar process of summoning all fall under my domain. In the terminology of your world, you would call it a hero summoning ritual. All such souls appear before me for an introduction and to receive certain blessings before their physical bodies are constructed in this world.”