The Goddess Is Obsessed With Me Chapter 25

At so point in their lives, everyone has heard this phrase more than once:

"The world is small."

A short statent, yet one with profound aning.

This doesn't necessarily an that the world is physically small.

In fact, the person saying this might feel that the world is so vast that once you part ways with soone, you might never et them again due to the imnse scope of our world.

However, despite this, it's a phrase that one might utter when they 'truly' 'coincidentally' run into an acquaintance or a familiar face while exploring the world.

It's sothing we say to an unexpected figure we reunite with, as if by fate, in this vast world.

That's the sentint I wanted to express.

"Sigh... The world really is small..."

But upon deeper reflection, the phrase might carry a slightly different nuance.

While most people might say this when they bump into a pleasant acquaintance, I couldn't.

Instead, I lanted and begrudged encountering soone I wished to avoid.

In the ga's lore, it's Miru, an ancient, ferocious dragon that has consud darkness and cultivated infinite power for a long ti.

For so reason, she seed to be confronting Erina as if they were reuniting after a long ti.

What on earth brought them face-to-face, and how did they end up in this situation?

'Coincidentally', this happened when I happened to leave Erina alone, and 'sohow' there was a dispute with a passerby, who 'coincidentally' turned out to be Miru.

"Damn."

I wanted to laugh at the cruelty of the world and the improbable face-off that had occurred.

But standing there, blaming an uncertain fate wouldn't help. Even though I was reluctant and scared, I had to step in.

"Erina, Miru! Both of you, calm down—"

Just as I was about to intervene,

Swoosh-

"?!?!"

A chilling, unfamiliar sensation crept up my neck, spreading throughout my body.

Before I could even process what I felt, the answer was right before my eyes.

A sharp, massive claw, emanating a dark aura, lunged at .

It takes only 0.06 seconds for humans to recognize sothing—a re instant.

In that fleeting mont, everything seed to move in slow motion, as if recorded in ultra-high-speed footage.

mories of my life flashed before my eyes, even ones from my original world that I had forgotten.

All these mories, large and small, seed to hover in front of .

What I realized was the concept of death.

The encroaching claw signified inevitable death.

I instinctively knew that if Miru's claw hit , it would be instant death.

The mories that brushed past were the 'life flashing before my eyes' phenonon people experience before death.

I had heard that when soone is about to die and sees their life flash before their eyes, they are subconsciously searching their brain for a way to avoid their impending doom, reflecting on past situations where they overca danger.

The mont I recognized the situation, my brain frantically sent signals to evade the impending claw. However, while my perception of ti seed to slow down, my reflexes remained the sa. No matter how much I commanded my body, the response was agonizingly slow. The claw had already reached so close that in that mont, I almost resigned to my fate.

"No! I don't want to die—"

I wasn't sure if I'd spoken aloud or just scread internally, but I blurted out what could have been my last words.

Ting!

With the clear sound of tal clashing, my vision returned to normal.

"Huh?!"

Barely coming to terms with reality, I touched my face amidst a flurry of thoughts.

Am... am I alive?

Relief washed over as the cold sensation disappeared, and I realized I was still alive.

"Huff... huff... huff...!"

I breathed heavily, wiping off the cold sweat, overwheld by the sheer drama of it all and looking up at the clear sky.

Fortunately, Erina's sword had blocked Miru's claw, preventing it from hitting my face and sparing from certain death.

Roar!

"Ugh!"

A powerful gust was created by the collision of the sword and claw. Had I not anchored myself to the ground, I might have been blown away.

"Aaah!"

Sadly, the bystanders weren't as fortunate. They were scattered like leaves in the wind, with surrounding structures being destroyed, showcasing the very definition of chaos.

"Damn!"

"Harold?!"

Only after the storm had passed did the two won realize that I had intervened just before their weapons could clash.

Their expressions, failing to hide their surprise, twisted as if they hadn't expected to step in.

"What have I done..."

"Are... are you okay?"

One approached with shaking pupils, seemingly unable to believe what she had done.

Now, both of them seed to ignore each other, focusing only on .

Suddenly!

Both rushed into my arms. To an outsider, it might look as if a man was lying in the middle of the road during broad daylight, playfully sandwiched between two won—a situation that could lead to major misunderstandings.

"Hey! Calm down! For now, let's move sowhere—"

I tried to reason, but my pleas fell on deaf ears.

"I'm sorry! It's this red-haired woman's fault for talking nonsense..."

"I never ant to hurt you! If it weren't for this so-called 'dragon'..."

Their simultaneous excuses threatened to overwhelm .

"He's my knight in shining armor..."

"Harold is my lover..."

Oh no.

Suddenly, it hit —the realization filled my mind, triggering alarms in my brain's ergency response center.

"What?"

"Say that again."

Suddenly recognizing one another, the two won glared with deepening darkness in their eyes.

"I've already marked Harold as mine... Harold wants too."

"Today, Harold told he'd be with forever, that he loves ."

Both exaggerated their shared past, looking ready to jump at each other at any mont.

"I almost had Harold as my knight; if we had a bit more ti to talk, he would've been serving by now."

"We were close enough that I felt his warmth every day; if we t just three months earlier, we'd be married by now."

I could sense the root cause of their argunt, though I didn't know how they'd co to this point.

"I shared my first kiss with Harold."

"I've even tasted Harold's sweat."

"What...?!"

Miru looked jealous and flustered, while Erina smirked maliciously.

Soon, the two silently glared at each other until...

"Harold!"

"Who is it?!"

"It's , Miru, who devours darkness?!"

"Or is it Erina?!"

Suddenly, I was forced to choose between the two.

"Um... well..."

"Answer quickly!"

The pressure to respond was palpable. If I had to describe the situation, it felt like running into both a current and an ex-girlfriend, and they're having an intense argunt, both looking to to settle the score.

"Um, so..."

"Stop driving crazy and answer!"

Truly, it was an agonizing situation for , making want to flee right then and there. No matter who I chose, one would undoubtedly be devastated. And if I chose neither, it felt like I was the one in danger. Yet as I pondered, ti continued to pass, and their patience was running thin. In the end, I couldn't choose, and all I could do was maintain a serious silence.

"What on earth happened?!"

"We received reports of chaos in the village, and it's true!"

Hearing the villagers' voices, the village guards rushed over.

"Damn..."

"Uh?!"

Then, looking irritated, the won turned their attention to the guards.

Now's my chance!

Seizing the opportunity, I bolted at full speed.

"Harold!!"

Without looking back, I sprinted away, the shrieks of desperation and piercing glares chasing after .

"The guards are here! Let's change the location!"

Whether they heard or not, I didn't wait to find out and kept running.

"Phew... ha..."

Feeling I had put enough distance between us, I ducked into an unfamiliar alley to catch my breath. The exhaustion from such a sprint was sothing I hadn't felt in a while. I wiped the sweat from my brow.

"Why does such bad luck always find ?"

Murmuring to myself, I looked up at the clear sky.

"Fate, you say... Are you interested in your destiny?"

An old voice caught my attention, making turn.

"Who are you?"

Turning my head, I saw a small tent in the corner of my vision. Inside was an elderly fortune teller, looking at , playing with so beads.

"Ah, my apologies for the late introduction. I am a humble seer, a child of the Goddess of Fate, Mori One."

In the ga's lore, Mori One is the goddess who oversees fate, known to foresee the future with high accuracy. In-ga, while players can't offer tributes to Mori One, the character acts like an NPC that conveys news from the developers about patches or upcoming events.

"Fate, you say..."

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously, and the old woman started talking about to gain my trust.

"Believe it or not, I sense sothing foreign in you. Perhaps, you're loved by an entity beyond human comprehension?"

Catching on to my exact situation, my eyes widened in surprise. The old woman, seeing my reaction, smirked and gestured to a chair in front of her.

"Sit here, and I'll tell you more. Don't worry about the cost. Money doesn't an much to this old woman... If your fate is intriguing, I might even give you a discount."

Indeed, as the child of the Goddess of Fate, she had an uncanny ability to read people. The aura around her was exceptional, yet there was an unsettling air about her. Yet, there was no one else who could offer such effective insights.

"Alright... Please proceed."

Sitting stiffly in front of the fortune-teller, she advised, "You can sit comfortably." Taking her advice, I relaxed my shoulders.

"Now, let's see. Please infuse this bead with your magic."

Following her instructions, I placed my hand on the seer's bead and channeled a bit of my magic into it. A difficult-to-describe color began swirling inside the bead, forming cloud-like patterns.

"Hmm... Uh..."

Although I couldn't see anything specific, the old woman seed to perceive sothing, gazing intently at the bead. Then, suddenly,

"What?"

She looked startled and shocked, her eyes widening in surprise.