"What is your name?" this was the first sentence directed by the goddess to me.
"Piche."
"A very crude name. You shall be referred to as 'Sohl'."
"Umm... ok?"
"From now on you are my pet and you shall refer to me as owner."
"...Yes." I replied while still shocked at her barbaric demands.
The goddess had a domineering personality. In just our first interaction she decided my fate and gave me a new identity. And from her cold tone it seemed there was no room for any negotiation.
I thought for a second to reject her demands but if she was the real goddess her prowess that I had witnessed six years ago was scary enough to keep me shut. Although I couldn't completely see her then I was sure it was the same women due to the indirect confirmation from the chief who obediently followed the voice's orders.
Still it was suspicious that she was communicating with only her voice. I decided to sound her out in a diplomatic manner.
"May this servant at least know the face of my master before I begin my servitude."
"No."
The voice which echoed throughout the cave was now directly behind me. I was talking while facing the statue and was not alert to who or what entered the cave. I turned around in anticipation to finally see the face of this 'esteemed goddess'.
What I witnessed was surprising. In front of me stood a woman significantly taller than me. She wore a black leather crop top which covered her neither small nor big chest and black leather leggings which accentuated her slim but well defined muscles of legs. Her feet were bare and looked completely clean. The area around here was surrounded by nature. Even the inside of the cave was covered in slight dirt but she was completely clean and away from all the filth as if she came from a different dimension.
Her face was covered with a black mask with slits for her green gem like eyes. But the things that was surprising were not her eyes but ears. Where there should be human ears were now replaced by something that looked like that of a rabbit ears.
"Done looking?" the goddess said.
"Ah yes! Forgive me, it was the first time I had witnessed such a pristine figure" I replied with slight flattery.
In my mind her figure and the one who saved the village six years ago overlapped perfectly. A person who could crush a truck sized monster in a single move was not someone I could offend. Although I didn't know what my fate was going to be, I at least didn't want to worsen it.
"You are forgiven. It is understandable for a mortal like you to be shocked after witnessing this demon's beauty." she said in a monotone voice.
It was impressive how she just said those embarrassing lines without faltering. The goddess seemed to have a quirky personality.
"May I know what I will experience as a 'sacrifice'?"
Now that the goddess was in front of me I asked the question that was bugging me the most. Even though I had agreed to be presented as a 'sacrifice' I had my doubts. For someone who protected generations of the village it was confusing on why so suddenly she would demand a sacrifice. Especially when there were no previous precedents of this happening.
There were only two possibilities that came to my mind. An outsider may have deceived the chief and the priest as they wouldn't fail to recognize any person of the village. The other possibility was the merciful goddess had truly gone mad after all these years. As for if the chief and the priest were planning to kill me, I didn't even consider that possibility. They had no reason to. From observing the villagers for over a decade I can safely conclude that they were simple minded and the concept of killing other humans was foreign for them. To them, more numbers meant more survivability.
For either of the possible scenarios I was prepared. There was a needle from a poisonous tree hidden within my sleeves. The poison from the tree was fast acting and gave a quick death. If it was an outsider with evil intentions I was confident to at least stealthy poison her with it and perhaps get a clue on finding a safe way out of this valley. This was built on my confidence that the outsider was weaker than the chief else she would have directly came to attack the village and not masquerade herself as the goddess. Even if i failed to assassinate the outsider, I could commit suicide using the needle for a quick death compared to whatever torture that was waiting.
As for the possibility of the actual goddess going mad, it was with no hope. My death would be a surety. Considering this scenario, I had come here only to satisfy my curiosity of seeing a real rabbit person, especially a bunny girl. After satisfying my curiosity I was ready to kill myself with the needle if the goddess showed any hostile intentions. In fact even now I had the needle only slightly poking my skin. When the goddess made her move I could react with haste and stab myself as I was sure she could cover any distance between us in the blink of an eye.
"Sacrifice? What sacrifice?"
"Huh? Don't you want a sacrifice?"
"No, I never asked for a sacrifice. What I told Aurene was to send someone who the village didn't mind to lose forever."
"What?!"
It was a shock to me. The one possibility that I didn't consider was misinterpretation of orders. Aurene was the name of the village 'priest'. She had told her own interpretation of the goddess order.
"Then why do you need someone to permanently move away from the village?"
I realized that death was something less likely for me to face today. But I relaxed my vigilance only slightly. To separate someone away forever from their village was still suspicious. Although I had a feeling from watching her reactions that whatever her aim was, killing me was not one of them.
"I want you as my pet of course. You are to assist me towards my path towards Immortality. Don't worry, along the way you will also gain plenty of benefits."
Her answer completely made me relax my vigilance. Whatever she had in store for me wasn't going to be harmful at least. And her use of the words 'Immortality' might indicate that this was a world of cultivation. As someone who had read a lot of cultivation novels in my past life, the word 'Immortality' filled me with hope. This was the hope that I could escape the mundanity of mortality and experience a more exciting life.
Now that I was not under the stress of death I realized that I didn't ask her name.
"What is owner's actual name? I would at least like to know the name of the person I would serve."
"My name is Khora blackhorn. Now no more questions. We need to reach the sect at earliest."
After she said that I suddenly found myself in her arms in a princess carry. This was the most embarrassing moment for me in all of my two lives.