“Whaat?! No way!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

  Deep down, I knew this was the case, but I still didn't want to believe it. After a lifetime of bad luck and nonstop suffering, hoping for something good now felt almost illegal. So instead of reacting like a normal person, my face just locked into some weird, stiff expression.

  The goddess clearly didn’t seem to like my reaction. She stood up, gliding toward me like some majestic cat, and started circling me, treating personal space as if it never existed.

  “Oh, come on, a handsome, brave man like you… you’re made to be a hero. Don’t you think?”

  “I-I don't think so.”

  My mind was barely holding together, and now the goddess was right here, with her sweet scent and heavy presence. Then she leaned in, her warm breath brushing my ear, whispering with enough charm to fry the last working part of my brain.

  “…And haven’t you ever wanted to know how it feels to start a new life in another world?”

  From her little antics, it was clear that she had totally misunderstood my unreadable, frozen face. She was trying to convince me like I was some stubborn idiot. I was already convinced, though. I just couldn’t get my tongue to work.

  “Yeah… uh, that would be great, I guess.”

  She suddenly pulled back, like she’d gotten what she wanted. She let go and gave my back a little pat, as if saving the world was a way too casual task. Then she sat down again, leaned forward with her chin resting in her hands.

  “So you accept it. Did I get that right?”

  “Y-yes…” I stammered, my mind still a mess.

  “Oh, wonderful then!”

  She practically bounced with excitement. It felt less like she was offering me the chance of a lifetime and more like she’d just sold me a glitchy video game. That little detail planted a tiny, awkward doubt in my chest.

  She turned to the side, snapped her fingers, and a drawer cabinet popped into existence. She pulled the drawers open and started rifling through them as if I were some indecisive customer she needed to convince fast.

  “It isn't here. No, not this one either. Ugh, I swear I put it right here!” she muttered as she kept tossing things aside.

  Items shot out of the drawer like projectiles. A huge black bra landed on my head like a custom-made helmet. Her random stuff smacked my face one after another. Pretty soon, the place looked like a secret wardrobe had exploded. I stood there, buried under her very personal belongings, waiting until she finished her digging.

  "Aha! I found it!” she yelled in excitement.

  She held a few sheets of paper in the air, eyes sparkling with excitement. Then she noticed me struggling under her scattered items, and with a single gesture, everything floated up and neatly returned to the cabinet like it had never happened.

  “Oops, sorry! Come on, over here!” she called.

  I walked toward her, nervous and clueless. The very moment I reached her, a small desk appeared, a chair nudged my knee, guiding me to sit. Before I knew it, I was holding a pen, staring at her and the papers with no idea how any of this happened.

  She leaned in, all professional smiles, tapping the places I had to sign as she flipped pages. My fantastic summoning suddenly felt less like magic and more like a boring office meeting.

  “You should sign here, here, and this one as well—”

  “Okay, but what’s all this for?”

  “The hero contract. It’s a high-level protocol that lays out the terms and conditions between a goddess and the summoned hero. Don’t stress, it’s just… formalities.”

  For some reason, the way she kept looking away and making those small, nervous moves bothered me. Something felt off, and I was starting to seriously doubt whatever she had pulled on me.

  “Well, can I read it first? Just in case…”

  “Oh, of course, take your time!”

  I read every line carefully, committing it to memory, while she watched me with a mix of impatience and curiosity. She wandered around in her heels, bending down sometimes to check on me.

  So far, it was all standard stuff: endless respect and loyalty to the goddess, compassion for her world and creations, no unnecessary bloodshed or torture… everything was in place. But that’s not what I was looking for. I was on the hunt for that sneaky hidden clause.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  After what felt like a few hours, I finally found it. Tucked between the lines was a sentence that looked normal, but the meaning stretched way too far. I raised my head and called out to the goddess, who was almost falling asleep on her throne from boredom.

  “Excuse me, but something caught my attention here. ‘The hero’s very existence remains at the sole discretion of the goddess herself.’ What exactly does that mean?”

  Hearing that, her face went all weird. She tensed up like I’d just caught her red-handed, squeezed her hands between her legs, and avoided looking at me with this awkward, guilty face.

  “Oh, that… yes, it’s as it says. Kind of a bond between the hero and the goddess…”

  “But this ‘sole discretion of existence’ thing… Doesn't that also mean you could just end my life whenever you want? No reason at all?”

  “Well… um, if you push it, that reading could come out. But why would a goddess kill her own hero? That’s just weird, right?”

  “But…”

  She was definitely hiding something. But looking around at the endless white void, I realized I didn’t exactly have a lawyer on speed dial to save my ass. Still, some survival instinct screamed at me to stop. I hesitated and put the pen down.

  “I think I won’t be signing that.”

  She clearly didn’t like that. She leaned over the tiny desk and shoved herself into my personal space. Just like that, the gap between us vanished, and my whole view turned into a sea of white fabric and gold lace.

  I saw through her little trick this time, and there was no way I was falling for it again. I looked away, focused on the floor, my future, anything but her.

  Then she grabbed my hand, dragged it to the paper, and casually pressed a very convincing amount of softness into my shoulder. Her sweet, unfairly pleasant scent followed. My thoughts packed up and left.

  “Just sign here, okay? There’s nothing to worry about… and here, perfect.” she whispered.

  My hand moved on its own, running on pure instinct just to keep the pretty woman pleased. I scribbled my name like a man possessed, not even stopping to think that I might be signing my own death warrant.

  She pulled away, snatched the papers, and skipped back to her throne with a smug grin. The warmth vanished from my shoulder, and cold reality rushed back in. That was when it finally clicked. Right. The goddess of lust. That’s what she’d called herself.

  “Oh, thank you so much. Now, step over here so I can bless you,” she said, pointing to the spot by her feet.

  I had already signed for the worst part, there wasn’t anything left to worry about. So, I just did whatever she wanted. I knelt before her, not like some proud hero waiting to be knighted, but more like a fool about to get kicked. I bowed my head, heart pounding with excitement.

  I waited... but nothing happened. Seconds slipped by and turned into some boring minutes. I finally lifted my head to ask. The goddess looked annoyed and a bit confused. She kept doing the same motion, trying to bless me in desperation.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “Yes. I mean, no. I-I don’t know. Just give me a second.”

  I lowered my head again and closed my eyes. I waited. And waited. And waited. My legs started to hurt from staying in the same position so long. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I raised my head again, a bit frustrated.

  “Still nothing, I guess?”

  “Ugh, no. For some reason, I can’t bless you!"

  “Is this… because of me? Sorry, it’s my first time getting blessed, so if I’m sitting wrong or something?”

  “No. I don’t think the problem is you. It’s probably because of that thing…”

  “What thing?” I asked, a bit tensed.

  She tapped my head for balance, then reached under her throne and opened a hidden drawer. From it, she pulled out an old, strange looking book and began reading.

  “Something went wrong. Where did I mess up…” she mumbled while flipping pages fast.

  For a moment, she completely forgot I existed. She was buried in that book so deep a bomb could drop and she would just turn the page. I sat there on the floor, legs crossed, waiting for her to finish her reading.

  “Side effects… blurry vision, nausea, rare mutations… nope, not those…” she kept muttering.

  The things I heard made me tense, but I still had no idea what she was reading. So I just sat there and waited. Time passed. A lot of it. I completely lost track. Then, without warning, she shifted her crossed legs, stretched one out… and kicked me straight in the face.

  

  The impact made me roll over and hit the floor. She jumped up in a panic, dropped the book, rushed to me, and cupped my face with both hands. Her face showed guilt and a soft, motherly worry.

  “Oh no, I’m so sorry! My leg went numb and I wanted to stretch… anyway, are you okay?”

  “Y-yes, I’m fine. Really. No problem!”

  As I got up rubbing my head, the weird book cover caught my eye. I couldn’t read the letters, but it radiated a dark, unsettling vibe. I picked it up and gathered all my courage.

  “Sorry, but what kind of book is this?”

  The goddess’s face fell. She grabbed the book, wandered back to her throne, and sank into it, looking utterly defeated.

  “Alright, I guess there’s no point hiding it anymore. This is an ancient summoning book... A banned one.”

  “Banned? Why?”

  “It’s clunky, old, and pretty much unreliable. Sometimes it’s even dangerous. A newer, stronger version exists now, so nobody really uses this one anymore.”

  “Hold on… So that’s why you poked my arms and legs the first time I arrived? To check if everything was fine? Are you telling me I could’ve shown up here with one leg or three arms?!”

  “Ah, I can’t say it’s impossible, but I think that would be the least harmful outcome we could expect…”

  “Why did you even use a method that nobody else uses?”

  The goddess avoided my eyes, looking guilty, while mine were wide with fear and anger. Being randomly summoned by a forbidden, unstable spell sounded way worse than just dying for a stupid reason.

  “But on the bright side,” she said, “you don’t seem to have any visible problems. The only thing is… I just can’t bless you.”

  “What does that even mean?!”

  “It means you’re not using my powers in the world you’re going,” she said. “So, you’re basically on your own.”

  My mood sank the moment I heard it. I knew something felt wrong from the start, but not this wrong. Now it hit me hard. I’d been summoned as a hero, only to get tossed into another world as a regular nobody. If you could still call me a hero.

  “Huh?! Doesn't that make me no different from any other person?” I snapped.

  “You could say that, yes…”

  “Seriously, how come a goddess can’t do the first thing she’s supposed to do after summoning?”

  “Like I said, it’s not me, it’s the summoning.”

  “But… couldn’t you just use the safe, less risky one? You know, the one every other sensible divine being relies on?”

  “No. I already spent that chance.”

  “…Spent it how?”

  “Well, uh, you’re not the first hero I summoned here. I’d already used my legal chance, so I had to bring you here… the illegal way.”

  “What?! Hold on… things get even worse by the second, another hero is already in the world I’m going to? Then why did you even need me?”