Chapter 216

The holidays flew by in a flash, and before we knew it, weekdays were back.

The sky was clear, but the cold morning air had many students dressed unusually warmly.

Half the class participated in lessons with drooping faces, exhausted. Most of these sleepyheads had been at the palace yesterday.

Can’t help it—things went on way too late.

“Why does Bell look so fresh?”

Lunchtime.

Polaris poked me irritably while glaring.

“Didn’t you have some tough stuff to deal with too?”

“I’d rather cross that city with you than sit still like that.”

Guess Polaris prefers physical tiredness over sitting uncomfortably for long periods.

“What happened yesterday?”

Victoria looked our way with a curious expression.

“Went to work at the royal castle.”

“Got dragged there by my parents.”

Hearing this, Victoria’s face twisted into an indescribable expression—as if she’d just heard something awkward.

“You mean both of you went to the royal castle?”

“Yeah. See all those tired kids in our class? They were all dragged there too.”

Polaris subtly pointed at the remaining students.

Several students with extremely gloomy faces caught my eye. They looked years older from sheer exhaustion as they slouched in their seats.

“What exactly happened?”

Victoria hesitated, asking cautiously. She seemed unsure if it was okay to even ask about what went down at the royal family event.

But since the banquet happened after the meeting, it should be fine, right?

Not really sure, so I glanced toward someone who might know. Polaris shook her head at Victoria’s question.

“It’s always the same old thing. ‘Here’s who you should hang out with,’ ‘Make nice with so-and-so,’ ‘Start moving toward marrying this one.’ First off, all we get from our parents is this kind of stuff.”

“Hmm… and then? There’s more?”

Apparently, banquets aren’t really about relaxing—it’s just another form of work. Polaris continued.

“There are kids your age around, right? ‘Don’t piss this guy off.’ ‘Who do you think you are?’ ‘I’m the son of someone important; wanna fight?’ ‘What gives you the right to flirt with my man?’ Etc., etc. Don’t even start.”

“It’s like Animal Kingdom…”

“Worse. Much worse. Toree.”

At Victoria’s mutter, Polaris shook her head and added her own thoughts.

Not everyone acted that way though. Some boys and girls bowed deeply, hoping to leave a good impression—but Polaris didn’t mention them. Their actions were just flattery, trying to gain benefits through sweet talk.

Polaris isn’t dumb enough to fall for that.

“Did Bell go to that kind of event too?”

Victoria turned to me.

“Didn’t cause any trouble, did you?”

“That tone of worry feels weird, doesn’t it?”

When I asked, Victoria quickly averted her gaze.

“Not really. After seeing that, why would I worry about Bell?”

“What about that?”

Had I done anything major? Like creating gold?

“Malley.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

When Victoria said this, she gave me a shiver-inducing look. Goosebumps actually appeared. It’s just an object, so calling it “that” shouldn’t be scary, right?

“Kids were wondering if this person would keel over somewhere. Standing still in the same spot for hours looked exhausting. Some people even whispered if Bell was a doll.”

Polaris recalled her thoughts while looking at me.

It’s frustrating how harvesters don’t voice their thoughts or writings unless necessary.

“Humans have strong arms and legs.”

“As much as that’s true, standing still in the same position is torture, Bell.”

“Yeah. At home, Bell’s always moving around acting like mom, but when there’s nothing to do, it’s like something’s wrong with them—they just stand still.”

Hearing Polaris’ words, Victoria brought up an old memory. Thinking about it, Beatrice and I were tidying up Victoria’s room once, and she complained that my habit of not organizing things came from her dad.

Acting like mom was because Victoria was such a slob.

“Jealousy towards the famous next captain of the royal guard faded when people thought he wasn’t human.”

Polaris said this dismissively.

Next captain of the royal guard?

Ah. He seems like a decent young man.

Thinking about it, there were quite a few jealous stares from girls at first, but by the end, no one was looking that way anymore.

Victoria looked at me with an expression that said, “Were there even such people?”

“The bodyguard? Nice guy, good worker.”

“Oh my, really? Are you interested?”

That’s when Polaris chimed in, clearly intrigued.

“When you say ‘interest,’ do you mean thinking about marriage?”

“Yeah.”

“Nope. The body I possess originally belonged to a fishman who lays eggs, but there’s no sign of that, so I probably can’t have children. Also, these aren’t hard-shelled eggs—they’re membrane-covered. Fishmen reproduce externally anyway, so humans wouldn’t feel sexual pleasure. I guess I couldn’t serve as a wife since I can’t handle nighttime duties, which could be grounds for divorce, huh?”

Polaris’ expression froze like a broken machine. Unable to comprehend my words, she turned to Victoria with a puzzled look.

“Oh, right. You’re used to Bell’s current form now, but Bell was originally a huge fishman.”

Recalling our first meeting, Victoria ignored Polaris’ baffled expression.

“Also, technically speaking, the gender of the body I’m in is male. This body was supposed to house Daegon, a male.”

“So, there won’t be any eggs either.”

“What am I even hearing right now?”

Polaris slowly raised her hand.

“My reproductive concepts.”

“Don’t say it so bluntly, Bell. That’s too graphic.”

Victoria warned me. Is it? I didn’t think I had much resistance to sexual topics.

Looking at Polaris’ pale face, maybe I was wrong.

Polaris grabbed her head with both hands and started muttering, summarizing everything I’d said so far.

“So, Bell isn’t really Bell but someone else possessing a body?”

“Close. More accurately, it’s an artificially created meat puppet. No sacrifices this time.”

Polaris stared at me with a strange expression. Victoria, meanwhile, watched me with an even more tragic look and asked,

“Does that mean there were sacrifices before?”

“Young girls were often chosen as suitable vessels.”

Even without specifically summoning me, searching Yasure’s memories reveals that young girls were frequently used as offerings.

Sometimes they were simply sacrificed, other times used for summonings.

Faded memories include concepts of female shamans, suggesting this is a universal rule across different worlds.

Oh, the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign and Daegon’s memories shine brightly.

Seems it’s true. Especially Daegon’s detailed recollections make me feel uneasy.

Depending on the species, males can also become offerings. Thinking of seahorses makes it easier to understand.

If a life system inherently involves unilateral exploitation by others of the same species, conceptually it becomes easier to contain something else.

The easiest entry point is a colony organism, but it’s easy to be detected by the main command entity, and if anything goes wrong, it’s quickly discarded, making it hard to properly ascend to godhood.

Considering time and effort, using intelligent beings like humans is the most efficient. They’re smart enough to be tricked easily.

“This time, twice as a girl, and now this meat puppet.”

“You’re not human, are you?”

Polaris stammered. A creature that regenerates even after losing its head and having only one arm left can’t possibly be human.

Well, maybe Tisah could. Though he hasn’t been injured badly enough to confirm.

Anyway, not human.

“I am a very dark and cold ocean.”

“Then, does that mean my water abilities come from you?”

Victoria levitated water in midair after my statement.

“No relation. Among those who’ve given me, there are fire users and air manipulators too.”

“Ah… yeah. That’s right.”

Victoria had already seen such harvesters. Hence, she understood immediately.

“It’s not because I aimed at granting abilities. Initially, I don’t even know why giving myself heals people. I just did it, and it worked. Same as Victoria’s abilities.”

“Abilities, huh.”

Polaris stared intently at Victoria. Specifically, at the small water droplet hovering near her.

“Can’t I use something like that?”

Pointing at the water droplet, Polaris asked.

A great question. Something I’ve been curious about but hesitant to ask. Filled with joy, I asked Victoria as naturally as possible.

“How was it when you first gained your psychic ability?”

“Me?”

After pointing at herself, Victoria crossed her arms and fell into thought, likely recalling our first meeting.

“Doing it just worked.”

“What does that mean?”

Although Polaris muttered under her breath, Victoria ignored her and continued reminiscing with closed eyes.

“Exactly as it sounds. It felt so natural that I don’t even know why I couldn’t do it before. Just like moving my arm—it felt so obvious that I just did it.”

Of course.

When you gain psychic powers, you instinctively know how to use them from the moment you acquire them. Personally, I suspected some sort of manual entered my mind, but it turns out they feel like skills you’ve always known how to use.

Like when a third arm sprouted and was instantly usable.

Perception has shifted. This is interesting.

Tisah tested his regenerative abilities after leaving the scene, behaving so confidently that I assumed he already knew how to use them. Turns out my assumption was correct.

If someone possessed superhuman patience or decided against using their powers due to unease, they might never use them despite having psychic abilities.

What.

Once used, I’ll know.

Need to keep this in mind.

“So, if you don’t feel that instinct, you can’t use it.”

Polaris slumped her head in disappointment.

“Do you need strength?”

“Not the kind I saw in Bern City. Just look at that kid using psychic powers so conveniently.”

As Victoria manipulated the water droplet, Polaris frowned in envy and looked at me.

“I wish I had convenient powers like that.”

“Your chance has passed.”

“No! Give me some too-”

Polaris threw a tantrum, and Victoria giggled while teasing her.

That short break before classes resumed passed in this manner.

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