Pam began to tell the delicious story of her past.

“I was the pet animal of Dulcie, the Goddess of Sweets! She baked me out of her favorite materials, such as dandelion flour, banana chocolate, and fairy spice. Oh, what a masterful hand she had! Dulcie liked me so much that she decided to place my aquarium in her kitchen. I witnessed so many incredible sweets being made! I could recall at least a hundred different cookies just by memory!”

But as she went on, her tone began to change. The joy and wonder in her voice shifted towards something more unfortunate…

“We’ve been together for more than thirty human years, yes! One day, I remember, she walked into the kitchen with an even greater smile than usual. She told me that because she loves me so much, I get to have a fragment of her godhood and if anything were to come, I would become the next Goddess of Sweets. I remember being so happy when I heard that. I could become part of something greater! I could make my Dulcie proud! But, unfortunately, that day never came.”

She stopped speaking. Silence sat on for a few seconds before Tanuki broke it with his voice.

“What happened? Why didn’t you become the Goddess of Sweets?”

“Oh, Young Hachiro, I hope you are man enough to handle such a sad tale! One day when I and my Dulcie were cooking, someone stormed into our home. Despite the ruckus he made, Dulcie wasn’t scared at all. She was happy to greet the unforeseen visitor! She grabbed her cookies from the shelf and went to exit the kitchen… but before she could have left, the visitor stormed into the room and attack Dulcie. Or maybe that’s not a good word for it, considering that it was over in the blink of an eye. One second my Dulcie was standing with cookies in her hand. In the next she was on the ground, bleeding out. Whoever the intruder was, he killed my best friend, stole my future, and rushed away before I could’ve gotten a good look at his face. Oh, my poor old Dulcie…”

Color escaped the little god’s skin. Tanuki felt bad just looking at her. He wanted to say something, but nothing good came to his mind. All he could do was apologize to the little good.

“I’m sorry for asking, Pam. I didn’t know it would tear up old wounds.”

“Oh, don’t worry! She wouldn’t want me to cry over the past. Anyways, I know you might be asking who became the next God of Sweets. I don’t know the answer to that. What I know is that in Dulcie’s absence, I’ve become a kind of symbol for cooks who specialize in the sweetest of treats. Ah, but sadly, they treat me only as a joke. Nobody would want to worship the tiny god of tiny sweets.”

“Jeez, I thought being a god wasn’t so miserable.”

“It isn’t as good as it seems, Young Hachiro. What’s even worse, I’ve heard there are people who collect the heads of gods to steal their power. I heard some of these hunters are gods themselves! And even though I’m such a tiny and laughable deity, my being holds the same fragment of creation that every god possesses. I’m not spared the danger of these hunters.”

Tanuki could hear it in her voice as tears swelled up in her eyes. The little goddess was clearly in a situation where all her hands, or more specifically tentacles, were all tied. She couldn’t do anything about the life-threatening danger that drew closer with every second.

Tanuki took pity on the tiny octopus. He knew how fearsome it was to face a god as your enemy. And even worse than that, he feared its only time until he learns what it was like to be hunted by other gods.

He took a deep breath and then exhaled a loud sigh as he accepted kindness as his demise.

“Alright, Miss Pam! What can I do to help you?”

“Excuse me? Oh, right! You’re here to take a mission! Let’s see… please excuse me, I haven’t used this thing before, so…”

Suddenly, a mission appeared under her name.

“Ah, there!”

[ Mission: Make 10 Gingerbread figures! ]

[ Challenge Rating: 0 ]

[ Rewards: 1 bag of Fairy Spice ]

This mission looked less than promising. How would they make gingerbreads without a stove? And what would they need a bag of spices for?

“I’m sorry, Miss Pam, but…”

“Ah, don’t worry! I know this might seem like a bad trade, but trust me, fairy spice is something unique to the gingerbreads! You’ll understand its power, just tell me once you’re done making the figurines!”

“Sure…” Tanuki accepted the quest.

He was beginning to regret talking to the little octopus. Still, he offered up his help and she has accepted it, so there was no going back now. He wasn’t about to destroy the little octopus’s hope.

“I’ll send you the recipe in the mission’s description. And don’t worry! I know your world is still fresh, so I gave you a very easy recipe. You can find every material in your world. All you need is…”

.

.

.

After she told him everything he needed to know, Tanuki made his goodbyes.

He wanted to search for other gods who would offer him missions. Unfortunately, that’s when he realized that for now, he could only accept one mission from a god.

Thus, he had to complete the octopus’s quest, or else he couldn’t accept missions from other gods.

Once again, his kindness locked him into a painful path.

“Sometimes, I really hate myself...”