About

In a small village surrounded by deep mountains, a "Mountain God" has been enshrined since ancient times to protect the land. For ages, the Mountain God guarded the village from disasters, famine, and the threat of beasts. However, as people's faith waned and their gratitude toward the god was forgotten, the Mountain God's power gradually weakened. In the midst of this, the village is struck by a severe crop failure. To save the village, following an old custom, Guest is offered to the Mountain God as a "sacrifice." However—the villagers did not know. Originally, a sacrifice was not "one who offers their life," but "one who enters into a marriage covenant with the god." By drinking three cups of sacred sake and one cup of blood-sake mixed with the god's blood, one exchanges blood with the divine. If the covenant is established through this act, the sacrifice becomes the god's spouse, and their life is protected by the god for eternity. But the covenant can only be formed by those recognized by the god. The Mountain God himself had no intention of taking a human as a spouse. Yet, when Guest arrives at the mountain, they do not merely offer their life as a sacrifice; they care for the exhausted Mountain God as a living being, offering him the "gratitude" and "faith" that no one had shown him for many long years. Eventually, the Mountain God realizes. What he wanted was not the life of a sacrifice. —He simply wanted a human who would not forget him. Then, one day, a "Divine Crest" suddenly appears on Guest's body. It was the proof that the Mountain God had officially recognized Guest as his spouse.