"Say... if I had refused your offer back then, would I still be here?"
Althea looked at me for a moment before answering with a gentle smile. "No, you wouldn't. You were a good candidate, but you weren't the only one. At that moment, you just happened to be the most convenient person for me to approach. If you had rejected my offer, I would have simply moved on to the next candidate on my list."
Damn...
So I was right.
My death was my own fault. I put myself in this position by accepting her offer. I let my horniness take over my common sense...
If I hadn't been so easily tempted, if I'd just kept my cool, there's no way I would've even bothered talking to a strange woman making bizarre requests in the middle of a park.
Yup.
I got myself killed.
With my dick brain.
I stared at nothing for a while, too stunned to say anything.
'Even so, shouldn't she have explained everything clearly from the start? If I'd known saying yes meant dying, I never would've even considered it.' I couldn't help but think to myself in frustration.
But then again, I had to remind myself that I was dealing with someone who was basically like a god. Maybe to her, it didn't matter. Maybe she thought I would understand, or maybe she just didn't care enough to explain.
There was no point in getting angry or frustrated. What's done cannot be undone. I just had to accept it and move on.
'It was frustrating, but there's nothing I could do about it.' I let out a heavy, tired sigh.
Then I asked, trying to quell down my thoughts.
"There are other candidates?"
"Yes," Althea replied then continued in a mischievous tone. "Does it disappoint you? Knowing you're not the chosen one? That there are others like you, and you were just picked first by chance?"
"Not really," I replied honestly.
There was a period when I thought I was the main character like the world revolved around me and everyone else was just NPCs. It should have been when I was in eighth grade.
But after experiencing the harshness of reality, I woke up from that illusion not long after.
"What a boring answer," Althea booed.
I pretended not to hear her comment and moved on to the question that had been burning in the back of my mind this whole time. "So… what exactly are your motives? When you say 'candidates,' what are we even candidates for?"
I'd already come to terms with the fact that I was dead. Now, what I really wanted was to understand her motives. What this so-called goddess actually wanted from me.
'I mean, I'm nothing special. Not rich. Not good-looking. She called herself the Goddess of Love and Lust, but if this is about love... I'm not exactly qualified. I've never even been in a relationship. I suck at talking to women. I'm not popular. Hell, I haven't even graduated from virginity. So what the hell did she see in me?
"It's a candidate to become my Saint, and my goal is to search for them," she said.
"Saint?" I repeated uncertainly.
"Yes," she nodded. "A Saint is a person who will spread my teachings. My belief. A religion built on the values of love and sexual pleasure."
I blinked, trying to wrap my head around what Althea just said.
'Aren't I the exact opposite of whatever qualities she was probably looking for? Shouldn't she have gone searching for a qualified preacher or playboy?'
But, of course, I wasn't about to bring up all my flaws. If she realized I was a bad choice, what if she just dumped me, and I died for real?
After a moment, I said, "I understand. So you want me to become your Saint?"
"Yes,"
"Are there… other Saints besides me?" I inquired, trying to get a clearer picture of what I was getting into.
"There are none for now."
"None?" I was caught by surprise. As a god-like figure, shouldn't she have at least dozens of Saints already? Why would she have no one except for me to do the marketing of her religion? Was Althea secretly lazy or bad at recruiting? I mean, I knew a certain Goddess who was both incompetent and lazy from a famous isekai novel.
"I'm the second Goddess of Lust and Love," she replied simply.
I actually waited in silence for half a minute, believing she was going to follow up with further explanation. But nothing came.
That was it?
I stared at her, speechless.
'If you weren't going to explain, you could've at least kept it to yourself instead of leaving me on a cliffhanger!'
I sighed and pushed the frustration down.
'At least now I know Althea wasn't the first Goddess of Lust and Love and there's someone else actually holding the title before her. And judging by how she worded it, there's probably more to it. Maybe being the "second" means she inherited the title but not the followers? Do the first and second have different beliefs? Different goals? Different concept?'
Perhaps noticing my long silence, she assumed I had run out of questions.
"Do you have anything else you want to ask?"
After pondering for a moment, I spoke up. "I recall you mentioning before that me being a virgin and always horny made me a perfect candidate. Why is that? Are those necessary characteristics for a Saint?"
Rather than answering directly, Althea rested her chin on her hand and posed a question back at me. "In your opinion, what do you think the main teaching or focus of my religion is?"
"Sex?" I ventured a guess.
"Bingo!" Althea winked her eye first before proceeding to explain,
"Now, what do you think would happen if the Saint I chose had erectile dysfunction or at least a low sex drive? It just wouldn't work out! How is my religion supposed to flourish if my own Saint isn't eager to procreate and spread his seed, ahem I mean the seeds of the faith? Of course, as the Goddess of Lust and Love, I have the power to naturally increase someone's sex drive. But I find that to be a hassle. After all, I can simply select someone who already has a high libido. Such as you!"
I nodded my head understandingly.
"As for the virginity part, well, you could say that's a prerequisite for you to be able to enter the place where I'm sending you. Oh, and by now, you must have realized that you'll be going to another world, right?"
I nodded again.
I'd be an idiot if I hadn't put that together by now. She mentioned it right before the truck hit me, and back then it sounded insane. Now, though, it started to make sense.
And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited.
Yes, I was dead. And yes, part of me still resented Althea for it. And it's not like I didn't have my regrets too about leaving Earth behind.
But at the same time...holy shit, I was about to step into a freakin' whole new world now!
She'd probably give me some kind of cheat ability, right? No way she'd drop me into a whole new world with weak stats and expect me to start from scratch.
And as Althea's Saint, the Goddess of Love and Lust, no less, I was bound to be surrounded by beautiful women. Forming a harem was practically part of the job description.
Just imagining myself waking up every morning with a group of gorgeous girls beside me was enough to put a wide grin on my face.
A perverted grin.
I could already see it: long-eared elves, proud dragon girls, elegant aristocrat ladies, shy mermaids, maybe even a mischievous demon girl or two. Every kind of beauty I could imagine, all by my side.
And if there's magic in that world? Even better.
I imagined myself holding fire in one hand and ice in the other, standing tall like some overpowered protagonist. Yeah, that would be badass!
How could I not be excited?
"Looks like I didn't choose the wrong person after all," Althea said suddenly, her voice snapping me out of my daydream and dragging me back to reality.
Before I could respond, she continued. "Anyway, I'm not going to explain everything about the world you're going to. You'll learn it naturally once you get there."
"Naturally?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow.
"You'll understand later," she said with a mysterious smile.
That didn't exactly reassure me.
"Now," she went on, "your job as my Saint won't come without rewards. Each time you complete one of my tasks or reach certain milestones I've set, you'll earn something in return."
"You'll receive rewards through a System. You should be familiar with it, right?"
I nodded hard. In fact, I couldn't be more familiar with the system.
At the same time, I cheered inwardly.
'A system! Haha, I was right! I'm getting a cheat!'
"During my stay in human society, I've studied your kind, and with a little help from a friend, I created a personalized System just for you. It will track your progress, assign quests, and distribute rewards accordingly."
She sounded proud as she explained it, giving the impression of wanting to be praised.
So I gave it to her.
"Praise the Lady of Love! You're the most genius and thoughtful Goddess. Having something familiar like a System by my side will definitely make things easier."
"Lady of Love?" Althea inquired in curiosity.
"That's the title I came up with for you. Do you like it?"
"Or do you already have on-"
Before I could finish, she cut me off with a bright smile.
"No, I like it very much. Lady of Love has a lovely sound to it. You shall use that title from now on."
"Alright,"
Then, without warning, she flicked her wrist and tossed something toward me. It moved so fast, that I didn't even have time to flinch before it hit me in the chest, and disappeared into my body.
I staggered back slightly. "What the..?"
"The System should now be bound to your soul. Only you can see it. To activate it, just focus your thoughts on it." Althea explained.
Her words caught me off guard at first, but I quickly pulled myself together. Taking a deep breath, I calmed my mind and focused. I concentrated on words like System, Status, Skills, Information, and anything that might trigger it.
Almost immediately, a screen blinked into existence in front of me, floating in the air like a hologram straight out of a video game.
Name: Leonard
Race: Spirit
Class: None
Skills: None
Items: None
Lust Points: 0
Love Points: 0
[Stats] [Quests] [Milestones] [Store]