Chapter 192

The guy with an abundance of black hair swept it back, revealing sharp features, a strong jawline, broad shoulders, and a strength far beyond that of an average person.

Not just in appearance but also in reality, he was a soldier who had fought and won multiple times on the frontlines against wild monsters.

Marquis Gaston.

Wielding several swords, Gaston was cutting down and hunting monsters when he realized there was no way he could defeat the girl standing before him.

Whatever it was, the moment it touched the ceiling, it was pulled up, shrunk into a point, and then exploded into nothingness, leaving behind a terrifying sea that rippled above.

Just moments ago, it had descended like a cake slice, forming a rectangular pillar that engulfed the nearby guard.

Even though he was wearing armor tough enough to withstand monster strikes, the guard had turned into chunks of meat and metal floating in the water.

How am I supposed to win against this?

Gaston stood within striking distance, but he lacked the courage to attempt it.

Where have the rules of this world gone? Even if I channel my magic power and dive into that square pillar coming down from the ceiling, can I really win?

No, to begin with…

Is the person controlling this ability to turn the sky into water even human?

Even with the remaining army under the Marquis’ control, combining all their forces would still leave little chance of victory.

So, Gaston decided to sell out his opponent right there to survive.

“If Pride Industries, Rocket Mobile Company, and Gun & LeFou Company make the minor incident in Bern City disappear, they’ll give me a million gold, so… I can only say I did it because I made a deal with them.”

Speaking confidently at first, Gaston quickly cowered and prostrated himself as Victoria’s gaze sharpened.

Pride Industries. A major corporation that started by creating the mainframes for mechanical devices and now dominates related heavy industries, wielding global influence.

Rocket Mobile Company. Incorporating Cogney Transport and other subsidiaries, it handles all things mechanical and is essentially one entity with Pride Industries since they deliver their products.

G&L Company. Specializing in programming for mechanical devices, it produces both software and exclusive hardware, maintaining a monopoly wherever advanced mechanical units are used. You can’t run their software without their hardware, and vice versa.

Corporate ethics haven’t developed yet. Through monopolies and oligopolies, these companies control massive capital, arguably making them stronger than nations.

They even bribe nobles to manipulate investigations ordered by the king.

Victoria knows about these three companies.

After all, she studies mechanical knights, and together, these three corporations practically represent the entire mechanical device industry—so not knowing them would be strange.

The runaway mechanical device incident in Bern City.

Having experienced it herself, Victoria thought:

These three companies want to bury the harmful event, but the person executing it is right here. So, dealing with the person in front of me will end everything.

No matter what schemes happen behind the scenes, Baron Gaston currently holds the most power in Bern City.

Though knowledgeable about machines, Victoria wasn’t savvy in politics or conspiracies and judged too hastily.

But there’s no one here to correct her.

“Hmm? You look familiar… Oh, Victoria. Victoria Bet, right? The kid living in my city. Got it. Listen, you’ve got family inside, worried about them? Let me help. See, I own Bern City, so how about clearing away this water for you?”

Thinking that capturing Gaston and exposing his crimes to the royal court or press would end everything, Gaston made a fatal mistake.

He recognized Victoria.

Since the royal family heavily promoted harvesters, it wasn’t unusual for Gaston to recognize her—it was almost impossible not to.

But recognizing her and speaking to her condescendingly was a grave error.

Now, saying something like that…

“I don’t like it.”

Gaston’s words sounded humble, but Victoria interpreted them as a threat.

The cost of his slip-up was enormous.

A water pillar crushed Gaston and the two others present.

Instead of just one person, the entire room sank into the ground, leaving behind small lumps as the three disappeared without even a scream.

Victoria ascended through the water. To her, manipulating water was like controlling her own body.

To simplify, think of her as Full-Armor Victoria.

And with that, she moved toward Bern City.

The reversed flow of the sea slowly vanished from the sky like a receding tide.

Those trapped between the ground and the water sighed in relief as they watched the sea drain southeast.

Sitting amidst the wreckage left after the flood, they looked up at the stars and moon, realizing the nightmare-like night was over.

For those who survived, this wasn’t a protest or natural disaster.

A ghost story.

This was definitely not a reality humans should face.

In the middle of the town,

the left arm, which only reached up to the shoulder, twitched.

Like a crawling insect, it moved toward the half-cooked lump of meat with a charred and mashed head and back.

Then, the world faintly cracked.

Like a spiderweb spreading across a shattered windowpane, cracks radiated outward.

Immediately after,

instead of the half-cooked lump and the crawling arm, two girls with white skin and purple hair appeared.

The horrifying miracle hadn’t ended.

***

Hehe.

It’s warmth.

Oh man, I love Victoria! I adore her!

Who would’ve thought she’d send out so much warmth like this!

Plus, she’s riding a giant water droplet toward Bern City. Can’t wait to see how many people will die along the way.

She’ll keep bringing me tons of warmth.

This is the harvester!

Anyway, moving on.

I didn’t expect my arm alone to prevent me from being ejected. When the light came rushing in, I thought I was done, but the harvester-made soldier shielding me pushed me aside, saving my arm from vaporizing.

Even with just an arm, I could still move. It’s hilarious whether it’s because it’s a real human arm or a constructed one—I still don’t know.

I need to be careful when entering another world or transitioning to the next puppet.

Anyway.

Since I’m seeing the world through Victoria’s perspective, when I saw her angrily summoning the ocean, I immediately stopped restoring my body.

I wanted to see how far Victoria could go.

And I was satisfied.

Moreover, thanks to past extreme situations, she doesn’t hesitate to kill, which is impressive.

When overwhelmed by immense power, humanity often becomes worthless, like insects.

It happens frequently.

Along with immense warmth, memories flooded in.

While the harvester fully absorbs warmth from defeated foes, the memories fragment.

Still, I figured out a few things.

First, Marquis Gaston.

He’s incredible—in the sense that he perceives reality however he pleases.

Perhaps because he heard screams coming from the south, he received an official request to investigate.

To check if anything unusual happened in Bern City or if there were mass deaths south of Bern City.

Ignoring it, Gaston sent investigators south of Bern City instead.

He deemed ongoing events in Bern City as common occurrences unworthy of reporting to the king.

Because multinational corporations sent people faster than the king, bribing him into signing secret agreements.

Preventing any investigation into the truth of Bern City’s incidents.

In exchange, they’d pay 5% of the contract amount every month for twenty months.

Thus, he concluded that profitable businesses in Bern City meant there was nothing to worry about.

It’s impressive how he truly believes this.

Of course, when protesters distributed information about the situation in Bern City, Gaston immediately began massacring them.

Claiming minor disruptions to business, he renegotiated with the corporations to cut off all connections between Bern City and the outside world.

All these incidents were considered trivial troubles during business operations—at least in Gaston’s mind.

From this, it seems the royal family is genuinely uninvolved.

Rather, one might question if the nation is functioning properly. Or maybe too many resources were allocated to handling witches.

Still, the likelihood of stopping Maleficent remains impressively high.

While organizing my thoughts, I greeted the newly harvested Polaris.

“How do you feel?”

“You, how are you still alive?”

“Apparently, having just one arm left is enough not to die.”

Polaris grimaced at my words, turned her head, and gazed at the distant sky. Watching the moving sea, she sighed deeply.

“That thing… Is it Victoria?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“The first time we met, she used water. But could she really do something like this?”

Spider-like legs stretched from rivers and seas below, continuously supplying water to the floating sea above.

“I didn’t know Victoria could do this either.”

Others do.

As the world advances and harvesters gain more knowledge, even similar abilities like fire manipulation vary greatly depending on expertise.

What might seem like the same fire ability could operate on entirely different principles. The more knowledgeable the world becomes, the more versatile users become.

Based on this, it seems psychic abilities rely heavily on imagination. If one can’t conceive such a scene, they likely can’t create it.

It’s not due to lack of power but rather lack of knowledge.

Considering where she first became a harvester, nearly drowning, imagining this scenario would’ve been easy.

Polaris aimlessly glanced between me and Victoria, lost for words.

Her pale skin suggests the burns weren’t life-threatening. Polaris isn’t just strong but resilient.

Yet, her hesitation shows she’s still a child.

“The enemy was drowned by Victoria.”

“Yeah… What will Bell do next then?”

“She must follow Victoria. What about you, Polaris?”

Someone willing to stand as a shield rather than use others as one.

If pressured this way, I know what choice she’ll make.

After a long pause, Polaris bowed deeply.

“Let’s go find Victoria. We need to understand what’s happening. After coming this far and ending up like this, turning back would make us failures. Let’s go.”

Humans always repeat foolish choices.

That’s the humanity I believe in.

“Yes. Let’s do it, Polaris.”

---