TMGH 02

Chapter 02

‘First, I need to take care of the curse, right?’

Since I have to break the curse to reach a happy ending, I need to find out how to do it.

‘Find me an item to break the curse.’

At my words, a game window appeared in the air.

‘Ah, what a hassle. Tell me how to find an item.’

Clean and pure places.

Generally, in every novel, clean and pure places are temples, the World Tree, or forests where elves or spirits live. Among these, I just need to find the place that is cleanest and purest, yet inaccessible to anyone, where traces of the divine beast have been discovered.

‘Where would the library be?’

For a dukedom, the library was usually large and often in the building next door. Sure enough, the library was right next door. I quietly searched for books related to the divine beast and sat on the library sofa to read.

Traces of the divine beast of light had been discovered in the forest where spirits live. The divine beast of light was small and cute like a puppy, but its personality was nasty.

Well, I also absolutely love sweet foods and can’t keep still when I see shiny things. Recalling old memories, I took the book and left the library for the kitchen.

I asked the head chef to prepare a bunch of sweet foods, then gathered up all the jewels in my room and stored them in the game window’s inventory. Now everything was ready.

If I didn’t tell Jason I was going out, he might get upset, so I went to his office to find him. Even though he’s young, he looked cool working hard at his desk. I smiled softly, then spoke to him, who wouldn’t even look my way.

“I’m going out. I’ll probably be back late, so don’t wait up.”

“Why would I wait for you? You’re free to delude yourself.”

Jason replied with the world’s coldest and most resolute tone. But I wasn’t the least bit hurt. This isn’t something I’ve been through once or twice—it’s dozens, hundreds of times.

Sigh, soon enough he’ll be clinging to me, begging me not to go and to play with him instead. He’s digging his own grave. How pitiful. You’ll be rolling around plenty later. I’ll roll you like a hoop. I’m good at this.

I shook my head in pity. Not only will he be rolling around, but come evening, he’ll become an adult and look for me like crazy.

“Then, you shouldn’t worry even if I don’t come home today.”

After casually hinting that I might stay out overnight, I left the office. Jason, who I wanted to roll around multiple times, didn’t follow me.

‘Do whatever you want.’

I coolly took a carriage with my escort knight and headed to the spirit forest. Upon reaching the forest entrance, I firmly told the escort knight not to follow and to wait, then went up into the forest alone.

When I felt a sense of sacredness and strangeness, I stopped climbing and plopped down on the grass so the divine beast could come comfortably. Then I laid out the sweet foods from my inventory prettily. And I placed jewels one step at a time from nearby. I also made sure to wear sparkling, flashy earrings, necklaces, and rings to show off.

All preparations were complete. Now I just had to wait earnestly for the divine beast to come.

“It’s so boring just sitting still.”

The problem was that it was so quiet that it was hard to wait even a moment. I had equipped items to protect myself from the energy emanating from the spirit forest, but staying too long was making me quite fatigued. My head felt dizzy too.

I pressed my throbbing head. Thinking that I might not be able to see it today made my stomach churn.

To soothe my tired body, I lay down on the grass. I closed my eyes and rested for a while. Then I heard a small sound of grass rustling and hurriedly sat up.

“Huh?”

Could it be the divine beast?

Is it the divine beast? I looked with desperate hope, and a pretty being with long hair and a mysterious appearance revealed itself. I’d seen that appearance many times.

“A spirit?”

That appearance was definitely a spirit. The spirit nodded its head slightly and opened its mouth with the world’s coldest and most expressionless face.

“This is not a human’s territory. Please leave immediately.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not an ordinary human, so I have no obligation to leave.”

I answered with a smile, confidently. It wasn’t that I was being shameless—I truly had no obligation to leave. More precisely, it was ambiguous enough to just laugh off.

“Not an ordinary human?”

The surprised spirit stared at me intently, then looked me over here and there. Soon it nodded, gesturing that it understood.

“You have lived many lives. Among those many lives, there were times you spent as a spirit too.”

I nodded.

It had been so long that I don’t remember the exact title, but I had possessed a female spirit protagonist. So I understood the spirit’s desire to chase away humans.

“I’ve also lived as an elf. And as a divine beast. So I believe I’m fully qualified to be here.”

After hearing my words, the spirit seemed to ponder something and then approached me. And then it suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Don’t bring any other humans. The exception is granted only to you.”

The moment it finished speaking, my headache vanished and I felt refreshed. The fatigue also disappeared completely. This must be one of the exceptions.

“Thank you.”

I expressed my gratitude, but the spirit was already gone. What a cold and neat spirit. And yet, kind in its own way.

I chuckled softly and sat back down on the grass. I swayed my now-comfortable body and took in the beautiful spirit forest. Just then, the grass rustled again.

‘Is it for real this time?’

I held my breath, waiting for the real divine beast to appear.

“Kiiyah!”

A truly adorable puppy-like divine beast appeared. If I hadn’t kept my composure, I would have screamed at how cute it was. I tried hard to calm my excitement and waved at the divine beast.

“Hello? You’re the divine beast of light, right.”

“Grrrr.”

The divine beast bared its teeth at me, wary. I immediately pulled my hands back and took a small step back.

“You don’t have to be on guard. Just seeing you is enough for me.”

Since all I needed was to meet the divine beast, this was sufficient.

See, what I should be wary of isn’t this, but this damn game. It thinks all it has to do is let me receive love from handsome male leads every day.

Sigh, I let out a deep breath. Phew, since I can’t let the divine beast dislike me because of my sighing, I smiled brightly as if I hadn’t seen the quest.

“I’m Mariana. What’s your name?”

“……”

So you’re not going to talk, huh. Fine, I have a good method too. I picked up the plate with the delicious cake and showed it to the divine beast.

“Don’t you want to eat this delicious cake? If you tell me your name, I can give you all of this.”

The divine beast immediately wrote its name on the dirt floor with its paw. I loved that it seemed to be a capitalist divine beast. The distance between the divine beast and me was quite far, so I had to crane my neck just to barely read its name.

“Leni. That’s a cute name.”

I handed over the strawberry cake that Leni had been eyeing earlier. Leni sniffed it, then ate the cake with relish. Its eating was adorable, but I wish it would say something too. It’s probably too much to ask since we’re not friends yet.

Leni can only speak in human language with people it’s close to. The closer we get, the less wary it is, so it treats me comfortably.

While I was recalling the information I’d gathered in advance, Leni finished all the food I’d brought. It patted its now-full belly, let out a satisfying burp, and then sat down adorably in front of me. Then it stared at my face with sparkling eyes.

It must be looking at my earrings and necklace. I had remembered how, when I was a divine beast, I liked flashy and sparkly things, so I deliberately wore accessories. Good thing I did. I tapped my earrings and necklace.

“Do you want these?”

“Kiiyoyo!”

It answers happily, lifting its head high, genuinely pleased. I unfastened the earrings and necklace, placed them in my palm, and held them out to Leni. Leni glanced at me stealthily, grumbled, and then quickly grabbed the earrings and necklace in its mouth and took a few steps back.

Leni didn’t go far, but it didn’t come close to me either, only occasionally glancing over.

‘How should I coax this little one?’

The sun’s about to set soon. And I’m hungry too.

I want to become friends quickly, but how can I do it? I pondered carefully.

***

“Is there really a divine beast here? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

“I’m telling you, it’s real! I found out through thorough investigation! Stop talking and just follow me.”

At that moment, two men with heavy footsteps were approaching. Sensing something ominous, I carefully approached the divine beast and shielded it with my body. The divine beast seemed to notice too and stayed still, but strangely, it didn’t run away.

And the unpleasant voices of the two men continued to be heard.

“But the spirit energy is making my body feel so weak.”

“Are you complaining about your body hurting when you’re supposed to be a knight?”

“Ha, wha-what the hell!”

“Did you just call me ‘what the hell’?”

“No, look ahead! Th-there’s really a divine beast! That’s a divine beast, isn’t it!”

“Holy crap, it really is a divine beast! We don’t have to grovel under those noble bastards anymore!”

The two men were incredibly shocked to see the divine beast, and their lips curled up in smiles. At that sight, I unconsciously frowned and clenched my fists.

Ha, are they seriously planning to catch the divine beast and sell it, or show it off to people to make money? Ha, I can’t tolerate that.

I crossed my arms, lifted my chin high, and put on an annoyed expression.

“Hey, I’ll be blunt. Are you trying to make money off the divine beast?”

Only then did the two men acknowledge my existence.

“What if we are? Don’t tell me, you’re thinking the same thing as us?”

The two men grabbed the swords at their waists. They looked ready to draw and swing at any moment if I said yes.

“Did you think I’d be scared if pathetic excuses for knights swung their swords? Not scared at all. In fact, you’re beneath me.”

“Ha, a girl like you’s all talk!”

I let out a dismissive laugh.

“Don’t just talk, swing your swords.”

Because I’m not scared at all.