You, Too, Count as a Deity

"I am most curious. How did you recognize me?"

The black cat spoke.

The voice did not come from the cat's mouth, but echoed directly inside Greg's mind, cool and distant, with an inhuman, ethereal quality strangely mingled with a trace of distinctly feline languor.

She even raised a forepaw and licked it elegantly, then tilted her head, studying Greg with deep green eyes that seemed capable of swallowing every ray of light.

That bearing belonged less to a cat than to a deity seated high upon a throne, regarding an unexpected visitor with interest.

"So I was right."

Greg's reaction was unexpectedly calm.

He did not prostrate himself, panic, or even raise an eyebrow.

As though he had expected this all along, he merely tugged at the corner of his mouth, his expression a mixture of resignation and I knew it, and said unhurriedly:

"It's such a classic trope, after all. A goddess of the night appearing as a black cat... it's practically standard in all sorts of stories. It'd be hard not to make the connection."

He even shrugged, as though discussing some clichéd literary device.

"A trope? What exactly are you talking about?" A clear note of confusion entered the black cat's voice.

Her deep green eyes narrowed slightly, as though both Greg's reaction and his words had exceeded her expectations.

"It'd be a pain to explain."

Greg waved a hand, his manner suggesting that she should not worry about the details:

"Anyway, let's just say there's no way an ordinary cat would turn up in a hellhole like this, especially right when I'd acquired a bunch of dark-element skills. So the moment you appeared, I knew you were anything but ordinary."

This was not entirely a brush-off.

From the black cat's first appearance, her excessively composed bearing and her ease in the face of the Dungeon's dangerous surroundings had been distinctly unsettling.

Combined with the downright absurd dark-element affinity he had just acquired... all those coincidences pointed to a conclusion that was not difficult to guess.

"What a casual attitude."

The tip of the black cat's tail swayed gently, her voice betraying neither pleasure nor anger:

"Since you know I am a goddess, should you not show me a little more respect?"

Greg promptly gave the deity the finger.

"Not happening."

His tone even took on a hint of impatience:

"I'm not some animal welfare society member. I don't have a special soft spot for cats. And honestly, I never wanted anything to do with beings like you in the first place."

He continued, "My situation is already troublesome enough. Besides, I just want to live in peace, not get dragged into some battle-of-destiny plot."

He concluded, "So could you please leave me out of anything involving you from now on?"

"Attempting to reject a goddess? You truly are a... peculiar person."

The faintest trace of amusement seemed to flicker through the black cat's voice, but it soon returned to that ethereal tone:

"Unfortunately, however, I have already placed my mark upon you. It is no longer possible for you to have nothing to do with me."

"Hey!"

Now Greg was getting riled up:

"You did all that without asking, didn't you? Did I agree? Did I nod? Did I sign anything? No! How does a blessing you forced on me even count? Just take it back, then."

"That cannot be done."

The black cat gently shook her head, the movement elegant yet leaving no room for argument. "For our fates have already been bound together completely."

"Fuck!"

Greg cursed under his breath, modern slang tumbling out of his mouth. "A crooked merchant like you, forcing a sale and refusing refunds, deserves to get screwed over by those freeloaders who demand refunds without returning anything!"

"Freeloaders?"

The black cat tilted her head, plainly unable to understand these otherworldly terms, but the aversion and resistance in Greg's tone were unmistakable.

"That look of distaste does wound me a little."

Her voice remained level, but there seemed to be an almost imperceptible ripple within it:

"Do you know how many beings once willingly offered everything they possessed, even their souls and eternity itself, merely for the slightest glance from me, the faintest wisp of my blessing?"

"That's other people."

Greg stressed the point as he sat down cross-legged, propping his elbows on his knees and resting his chin in his hands, his face full of anxiety over his uncertain future:

"But I don't want a... uh, strange goddess like you using me as a pawn to do things that might get me killed."

He placed heavy emphasis on the word "pawn."

"A pawn?"

The black cat seemed amused by that description. She sprang lightly onto a slightly higher rock and looked down at Greg, her deep green eyes gleaming in the firelight:

"This is hardly how a pawn is treated."

She paused, as though weighing her words-or rather, deciding what information to impart.

"If I merely regarded you as a disposable pawn, you would not have received such... generous gifts."

The black cat's gaze swept over Greg's body, seemingly casually. Although nothing unusual was visible there, Greg immediately understood what she meant.

His Dark Magic Affinity, which had reached LV10, and the dark-element skills that came with it.

Something stirred in Greg's mind.

Indeed, according to the original game's setting, even Sylvia, who likewise enjoyed a goddess's favor, only had a maximum of LV8 for her corresponding elemental affinity on the game panel.

LV10 had originally existed only in the lore. In practice, no one could actually reach that level.

If this Goddess of Night truly considered him nothing more than a disposable tool, there really did not seem to be any need to invest so heavily in him.

So this looked more like a kind of... investment?

Or perhaps a binding arrangement?

"Furthermore..."

The black cat continued in that voice that resonated directly inside his mind, her tone seeming a little more solemn:

"I have already told you-our fates have been bound together completely. This is neither a metaphor nor a threat."

She leaped lightly down from the rock, landing silently before Greg, then raised her head, her deep green feline eyes looking straight into the young human man's amber pupils.

"If you die, I shall perish with you."

Greg: "...?"

"We share the same divine essence."

Greg: "...??"

"Therefore, strictly speaking..." The black cat curled her tail elegantly around her forepaws and delivered her final verdict. "You, too, may now be considered a... deity."

Greg: "My sword and shield???"