Returned from Another World, Earth Turned Out to Be Quite the Fantasy Too. Also, Losing Heroines, Stop Looking This Way. - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: “Unexpected turn of events, isn’t it?” ②

Kaya Minazuki recounted her story.

When Kaya was still in her teens, driven by curiosity, she secretly entered the sacred domain of the Minazuki family. There, she encountered a young man around twenty years old—the local god Mizuchi.

As the name suggests, Mizuchi is a dragon or serpent-like deity that governs water.

Mizuchi, who protects Mukaijima city and is enshrined by the Minazuki family, originated from an ancient river that gained faith.

He said he loved the people.

Though he could not leave the Minazuki family, he expressed his love for the residents of Mukaijima city with a smile.

It seemed he had spent a long time observing people from within the Minazuki family’s domain.

He cherished the people who laughed, cried, sometimes got angry, felt sadness, did good, and even bad things.

—And so, he wished to die.

Kaya asked him why.

Mizuchi was unable to fulfill his original role as a local god.

The reason was that he had been absorbing the land’s impurities for a long time.

Originally, a land god doesn’t need to absorb impurities. However, because of his kindness, he ended up doing so. And thus, he was worshipped, celebrated, and enshrined by the Minazuki family, who became his shrine maidens, up to the present.

Swallowing impurities, he couldn’t exert his power as a god.

He was unable to save people from malevolent spirits, and as a result, floods, droughts, and famines occurred.

People prayed to Mizuchi, and, unbelievably, offered sacrifices.

Mizuchi, who did not desire the sacrifices, cried out for them to stop, but his pleas were ignored by the head of the Minazuki family at the time, and the sacrifices were forcibly offered.

Out of kindness, Mizuchi accepted the sacrifices to pray for the souls of the young children whose lives were taken.

Without needing to eat or drink, and able to live as long as there was faith and nature, Mizuchi was frightened of humans who were willing to offer sacrifices, even at the cost of being called brutal, in the hope of saving many with small sacrifices.

The tragedy of Mizuchi was that his power was restored because he was offered sacrifices.

The girl who became a sacrifice had wished for it herself, offering her life nobly for Mizuchi and for the suffering people. Because of her, Mizuchi regained his strength.

Mizuchi exerted his power for the sake of the girl who became the sacrifice.

Thanks to this, the land prospered, faith increased, and his power grew.

And then—once again, he began to lose the power of a land god because he took on too many impurities.

“Might as well laugh at how foolish it is,” Mizuchi said.

Foolish or not, he continued to use his power, ready to perish for the sake of the girl who became a sacrifice.

However, humans prepared another sacrifice.

Mizuchi’s cries of “stop” went unheard.

The same thing happened again.

Repeatedly, five girls became sacrifices.

It was said that in places Mizuchi could not reach, there were even more sacrifices.

Mizuchi continued his duty as a local god at the expense of himself and was broken.

It all started with the desire to regain his strength.

As time flowed into the modern era, where faith is fading, he desired power.

The reason why remains unknown.

It might have been out of concern for the people, or perhaps he simply desired power.

Next, he found himself seeking sacrifices without realizing it.

He was disturbed because he had no memory of conveying such a desire.

He quickly communicated that he did not need sacrifices, which resolved the issue, but then he realized.

He had become so tainted that there was nothing he could do about it.

He was on the verge of falling, not as a local god, but as a malevolent deity.

Considering the worst-case scenario where he could harm the very land he was supposed to protect, he pleaded with the head of the Minazuki family to destroy him.

It was the first time he had ever made a request to a human as a god.

However, his request was refused.

The reason was simple.

There was no one who possessed the power to kill a god, nor was there anyone willing to bear the burden of committing deicide.

Then, Mizuchi secluded himself within a corner of the Minazuki family’s domain, protected by multiple layers of barriers.

In the Minazuki family, discussions were held on fulfilling Mizuchi’s wish; if that was impossible, sacrifices would have to be offered to restore him to normalcy.

But Mizuchi detested the very idea of being offered sacrifices.

Kaya, while holding the weeping and laughing Mizuchi, made a promise.

“I will be the one to kill you,” she said.

However, she was unable to obtain the power necessary to kill a god.

As she continued to visit Mizuchi and grew closer to him, she became pregnant with a child.

Kaya only told the truth to her mother, who was the head of the family at the time.

Mio was born, known as a child with an unknown father, and later, Kaya married a relative, and Miyako was born.

Kaya’s human husband understood that she did not love him but thought her heart might grow fond of him after marriage. However, Kaya’s heart remained unmoved. Despairing, he disappeared without a trace.

Mio and Miyako were raised without any distinction. No one in the family discriminated against them.

However, as Mizuchi’s limit approached and the time for a sacrifice became imminent, Mio was chosen.

This was due to the uncertainty of her father’s identity and because Miyako was more often seen as the next head of the family.

Surprisingly, Mio accepted it readily.

The one who opposed the decision to sacrifice Mio the most was the elder, Unkai.

She was especially fond of Mio, and the shock made her unsure of how to treat her, resulting in her becoming harsh.

Perhaps it was to reconcile her feelings.

Kaya knew that every time Unkai was harsh to Mio, it would invariably make her cry.

She was fed up.

She wanted to free Mizuchi, who had served the people as a local god for so long.

She could not bear the thought of offering her daughter as a sacrifice to her father.

Yet, there was no one capable of killing a god.

The Minazuki family continued to pray that Mizuchi’s limit would never come.

—And then, Natsuki Yura appeared.

The magical power Natsuki possessed was so unusual that it was suspected to belong to a high-ranking demon that should not be able to enter the human realm.

She realized that he had the power to kill their god.

For Kaya, Natsuki Yura became—hope.

〜〜Afterword〜〜

A brief note about the god of the Minazuki family.

There was no malice in the Minazuki family of old… but the actions born from suffering were painful and sad.