Chapter 200

Right now, in Bern City, there are three factions.

First up, the Bern City Defense Force—though everyone thinks it’s really Marquis Gaston’s private army.

Then there are the Bern City residents turned members of the Twilight Association, who’ve kinda forgotten why they started protesting in the first place.

And finally… Victoria.

It’s kinda funny how Victoria counts as her own faction all by herself.

Sure, she’s strong and all, but if you check out Maleficent’s faded memories, you’ll see that even with her power, Victoria ain’t unbeatable.

See, Victoria doesn’t use magic, so compared to how powerful she is, she’s actually pretty weak.

In this world, magic has developed a lot on a physical level, but there’s still curses. No projectiles, so if you can’t counter it, you gotta rely on your own magical stability to protect yourself. That’s how it works.

Curses aren’t Maleficent’s specialty either—they’re actually pretty common. If you look at soldiers’ memories, there’s plenty of examples. Surprisingly, a lot of magic-using monsters use curses too.

That’s why protective gear has gotten super advanced, and people don’t really use curses on each other anymore.

The reason the army at Nantes Port couldn’t resist and got wiped out? Nobody knew who was controlling the ocean.

By the time they figured it out, it was already too late.

If they’d realized earlier that Victoria was the enemy, they could’ve done something—even if it meant both sides getting stabbed and dying.

Sounds like an excuse, right? Kinda makes you laugh.

Anyway, eventually four factions will converge here.

The Kingdom Army is on the move.

Just when they arrived at the capital, I was treating a soldier waiting to die in a military hospital. They recovered enough to rejoin the army.

So basically, when the Kingdom Army moves, I know about it.

They sent out an airship that was supposed to return a while ago, but it didn’t. So they investigated and realized something was happening in Bern City.

In this third world, information doesn’t travel fast like in those shiny golden-age memories. Sure, you can use magic to communicate, but the farther away you are, the harder it gets. Letters are still the go-to method.

Wait, if we have TVs, why so slow? Turns out TVs are easier! One-way communication instead of two-way. Makes sense, I guess, even if it feels weird.

Anyway, they’re preparing to head to Bern City.

There’s no one high enough in the Harvesting System to know everything, but some do know the general direction.

From what I gather, they suspected something was off in Bern City and were already gathering intel.

The info’s all over the place, though. It’s hard to piece together. You’d think if they knew, they’d act faster, right?

But according to certain glowing memories, the kingdom believes acting prematurely risks missing opportunities. Better to wait until the situation escalates and then strike decisively.

Daegon’s memory agrees—it’s cheaper that way. Once society evolves enough, dealing with things after they happen becomes more efficient than preemptive action.

With nationalism or socialism glowing in my mind, it seems culture needs to catch up too.

Some memories suggest they’re waiting for an excuse for things to escalate.

Especially if wiping out an entire city might be necessary, it needs to be crystal clear that the king is doing the right thing.

Isn’t that what kings are for—to create such clarity?

Ah. Yeah.

Tisah’s memory glows. Doing it this way will cause cracks, and eventually bring down the kingdom.

So, only when it’s blatantly obvious that justice is being served will people follow.

Another king’s memory glows too. Once a truth is born, erasing it is near impossible.

So instead of removing the truth, flood the world with fake truths until no one knows what’s real anymore.

When people lose their ability to discern truth, that’s when you can truly control them.

Whoa, my thoughts are going off track again.

Anyway…

Right now, the Kingdom Army is probably just waiting for things to heat up enough before moving in, regardless of how many people die. The deaths can serve as justification.

So they’ll likely show up after the protesters clash with Bern City’s forces. Whether they know about Marquis Gaston’s ties to three big companies remains unclear.

Even if they do, it’s not like that info filters down to the Harvesting System level…

We don’t really know how much they know.

But they’re definitely ready to move at any moment.

Meanwhile, the protesters are heading east, and so are Victoria and Polaris.

I don’t know exactly what’s happening around me. My only remaining sense is touch.

At least I can feel that I’m trapped somewhere.

But I won’t regenerate yet.

I’m waiting for the fervor of the man who branded me a witch and beat me to die down.

Regenerating now would just give them more reasons to lock me up tighter.

People need time to process information.

At least a few should listen when I call out for the royal family and question things. If not, there are other ways.

Thinking this way, I waited for a long time.

Suddenly, I felt something touch my body. The familiar cold steel fingers tell me a mechanical device has grabbed me.

Clank clank.

The vibrations never stop as it carries me somewhere.

If I had a Harvester, I could figure out what’s going on around me. But alas, can’t change what isn’t there.

Sure, regenerating just my ears would help, but how exactly does that work? Too complicated.

I can guess the reason, though.

Victoria’s coming this way.

We’re on the side of a mountain.

Above us, there’s a massive upside-down sea.

If Victoria reaches the mountain, she’ll likely drown.

Relocating the base wouldn’t be unusual.

I waited for a while, feeling the cold steel and constant shaking.

According to the Harvester’s time sense, it should still be twilight, but the upside-down sea blocking the sky has made Bern City darker than night.

Suddenly, the cold steel let go, and I landed on stiff waterproof fabric. My body feels like a lump of meat screaming in pain.

My body insists I’m gonna die like this, but who cares? Regeneration’s easy as long as I don’t evaporate.

Maybe as long as some internal cells survive, I’m considered alive and can keep going.

The army’s carrying me somewhere.

Victoria and Polaris are following the trail left by the ground forces.

The Twilight Association found the trail too and is chasing after.

Since the trail from the front line to the mountain is clear, there’s no way they’ll get lost.

As time passed…

Victoria and Polaris spotted the army far ahead, marching diligently.

“Enemies!”

Meaning, they’re close enough for both sides to spot each other. Of course, they’d leave some rear guard.

But the person who shouted upon seeing Victoria and Polaris died instantly.

Because Polaris uprooted a tree and hurled it, smashing the guy into pulp with a sickening crunch.

Woah.

Polaris seems stronger than the memories suggest.

Even with enhanced physical abilities, shouldn’t there be limits? What happened to action-reaction?

How does that tiny frame handle that kind of impact?

Now both sides know each other’s positions.

A battle should start.

But it didn’t.

Following their plan, the sky began lowering as they approached.

The plan was simple:

Lower the water level, have Polaris cause chaos while Victoria sneaks in to find me.

Once I’m found, we retreat while water slowly closes in around us.

It worked beautifully.

As the upside-down sea descended, everything screamed. Mountains crumbled and shattered with every submersion, and creatures everywhere wailed in terror.

Birds flying upward got dunked into the water, leaving behind faint warmth before disappearing.

The army panicked, and the Twilight Association stopped in their tracks, cowering and screaming.

This isn’t a natural disaster—it’s a nightmare.

But once the water reached a certain point, it stopped descending.

From high above, Victoria carefully snuck through the underbrush toward the army.

Polaris, instead of following, threw rocks and trees randomly in a different direction.

With a deadly suction field overhead, the army flails around in confusion.

Amidst the chaos, Victoria finally spotted me.

Woah.

Seeing me in reality is worse than imagined.

My body’s swollen like a balloon, oozing some gross liquid. My pale skin makes the fist marks on my bloated body stand out clearly.

On top of that, blood and unidentified bodily fluids drip as I’m carried like a sack by the mechanical device.

“Bell, are you okay?”

Victoria murmured quietly—not to herself, but with the certainty that I could hear her.

While debating whether to ignore her since I’m technically out of earshot, the pain suddenly vanished, replaced by a rush of pleasure that cut off abruptly.

Ah, I’m dead.

My sense of touch fades too.

But the protagonist’s here, so it’s time to move.

I snapped reality back into shape, restoring my original form.

Crack crack!

The mechanical device holding me bent backward, and I returned to the same state I was in that morning.

Hundreds of eyes immediately focused on me.

This is it.

Time to reap what I’ve sown.

“Hello, humanity. Who among you has chosen to betray the nation?”

No lies here. Contextually, I’m not asking if you’re traitors, but without context, it’s just a neutral question.

While misleading them, I waved to Victoria approaching me.