He flicked his abundant black hair back, revealing sharp features, a thick jawline, broad shoulders, and an incredible strength that ordinary folks couldn’t even compare to.
Not just in appearance, but this guy had actually fought and won several battles on the front lines against wild monsters.
Gaston.
With a few swords in hand, while he was out hunting monsters, he certainly didn’t think he could beat the girl standing right in front of him.
Whatever it was, the moment it touched the ceiling, it got dragged upwards, shriveling into a single point before bursting and vanishing into a terrifying sea.
Just now, it had descended in a rectangular prism shape, crushing the guards standing nearby as easily as if it were slicing through cake.
Even though he wore armor strong enough to withstand most monsters, the guy was now a lump of twisted meat and iron, floating in the water.
How could he possibly win against that?
Gaston stood within three seconds’ distance, ready to charge in, but found himself lacking the courage to try.
Where on Earth had the laws of this world gone? The rectangular prism descending from the ceiling was splashing around, and even if he used magic power to leap in, could he really win?
No, hold on.
Was it even right for a human to wield the ability to cover the sky with water?
Even though he still had quite a few soldiers from the Marquis household to move, joining forces wouldn’t improve the odds of winning against this thing.
So, to survive right then and there, Gaston decided to boldly offer up his opponent.
“Pride Industry, Rocket Mobile Company, G&L Company. If the three companies sweep the minor incidents that happened in Bern City under the rug, they’d give me a million gold. So if you ask me why, the only thing I can say is that I made a deal with them.”
POW!
The moment he spoke so confidently, Gaston immediately tucked tail and dropped to the ground when he saw Victoria’s sharp gaze.
Pride Industry. A conglomerate that started by producing the mainframe for Mechanical Puppets and has absorbed various heavy industries, wielding enormous global influence.
Rocket Mobile Company. A worldwide giant that includes Cogni Transport Company and various subsidiaries using Mechanical Puppets. In essence, Rocket Mobile Company is effectively one with Pride Industry since they deliver products made by them to customers.
G&L Company. A specialized multinational corporation creating the software and hardware for Mechanical Puppets, monopolizing every place that uses intelligent Mechanical Puppets. Of course, if you don’t use their hardware, the software won’t work, and vice versa, keeping their monopoly intact.
In this era, corporate ethics were still underdeveloped. Thus, with monopolies and oligopolies hoarding immense capital, it seemed as if corporations had become stronger than nations.
Even when the king issued an investigation, he simply bribed the noble overseeing it to lead it in his desired direction.
And Victoria knew all about these three companies.
Because Victoria was studying mechanical knights. Combining the three, it would be almost strange if she didn’t know about them, given their dominance over the entire Mechanical Puppet industry.
The Mechanical Puppet rampage incident in Bern City.
Having experienced it firsthand, Victoria thought,
“The three companies are trying to bury something detrimental to them, but the one implementing it is right in front of me. If I deal with this person, all will be well.”
No matter what they tried to do behind the scenes, the group with the most power in Bern City at that moment was Gaston.
She was knowledgeable about machines but not so adept in politics and conspiracies, leading her to a hasty conclusion.
Still, there was no one here to point that out.
“Hmm? I knew I’d seen you somewhere! Victoria, right? Victoria Bet, the girl living in my city. Aha, I got it! Hey, you have family inside, don’t you? If you’re worried about them, I can lend a hand. Look, I’m the owner of Bern City, right? So just clear this water for me.”
Then, just when he thought that capturing this person and notifying the royal family or the press about the crime would wrap everything up, Gaston made a fatal mistake.
He recognized Victoria. The royal family promoted the harvesting period a lot, so it wasn’t unusual for Gaston to recognize Victoria. In fact, he couldn’t help but recognize her.
But his mistake was belittling her with a casual tone after realizing who she was.
Now that he said it like that…
“I refuse.”
Gaston’s words sounded cowardly, yet Victoria interpreted them as a threat.
The cost of that careless remark was steep.
A column of water crushed down upon Gaston and the other two present.
Not just a person, but three individuals sank to the ground, as though the space of the room itself collapsed into the earth, leaving only tiny lumps behind that vanished without a sound.
Victoria rode the wave upward. For Victoria, controlling the water meant it was akin to her own body.
Think of it as her full-armored self, and it makes sense.
And in that state, she moved toward Bern City.
The sea, flowing backward, slowly disappeared from the sky, just like the tide retreating.
Those trapped between land and water, resigned to death, sighed in relief as they watched the sea slip southeast.
Sitting on the rubble left behind after the tsunami passed, they realized that the nightmare of a night was finally over, gazing at the stars and moon in the sky.
To those who survived, this was neither a demonstration nor a natural disaster.
It was a horror story.
No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t a reality that a human should endure.
And in the center of that town.
A left hand, with only the shoulder remaining, twitched.
It moved like a bug of an arm, inching toward a half-raw lump of flesh that was burnt and smashed at the back of the neck.
And then, the world cracked faintly.
Like cracks in a glass window, a pattern spread like a spider’s web from wherever you looked.
Immediately after.
Instead of a half-raw lump of flesh crawling alone, two girls with white skin and purple hair appeared.
The hideous miracle still wouldn’t fade away.
*
Hehe.
It’s warmth!
Wow, I love Victoria! I adore her!
I never expected to receive such a massive amount of warmth!
Besides, I’m riding on a gigantic water droplet heading for Bern City! I can’t wait to see how many will perish!
She’s going to keep bringing me warmth in the future.
This is the harvesting period!
Anyway, speaking of which…
I didn’t think I wouldn’t be ejected outside even with just an arm left. When the light flew at me, I thought I was truly done for, but thanks to the soldier created during the harvesting period surrounding and pushing me, one of my arms went out into the beam and didn’t evaporate.
It was pretty funny that I could still move in that state.
Whether this arm counts as a human arm or a created body, I still don’t know.
If I move into another world or next doll, I’ll have to be cautious.
Anyway.
Since I’m experiencing the world from Victoria’s perspective too, when I saw her angrily drawing in the sea, I immediately stopped returning my body to normal.
I was curious how far Victoria could go.
And I was satisfied.
Moreover, it seems the extreme situation helped her not hesitate to kill people.
When overwhelmed by too much power, the value of a human can become less than that of an insect.
That happens often.
And so, with a lot of warmth came some memories.
While the warmth obtained from the harvested victim can be taken whole, the memories get fragmented.
Still, I learned a few things.
First, Gaston.
This one is really remarkable. What do I mean by impressive? He’s grasping reality at his own convenience.
Because he heard screams coming from the south, he sent an official document telling to investigate Gaston thoroughly.
He demanded to check if there were unusual incidents in Bern City or if any mass casualty occurred south of Bern City.
Gaston ignored the task, arguing there was no need to explain such common occurrences to the king, failing to grasp the seriousness of the events in the city.
He was overly confident, having quickly sent people from his multinational corporation to strike a backroom deal.
Do not investigate the truth behind the incident in Bern City and prevent actions that would reveal it.
If no rumors related to the corporations circulate in Bern City, they’ll pay 5% of the contract fee each month for 20 months.
Thus, he thought nothing was wrong in Bern City because the businesses were rolling in profits.
What a remarkable belief he had about his own understanding!
Of course, Gaston was the one who started slaughtering the protestors as soon as they distributed information regarding the incidents occurring in Bern City.
Then, claiming there’s a minor disturbance in business, he renegotiated with the corporations to sever every connection between Bern City and the outside world.
All these incidents were just minor troubles that arose during business, at least in Gaston’s mind.
From this perspective, it genuinely seems the royal family had no connection at all.
You might even question if the state functioned properly, given its overly soft stance. Or perhaps they’ve poured too much manpower into dealing with the witch.
Still, the possibility that they couldn’t stop Maleficent is genuinely remarkable.
Organizing my thoughts like this, I greeted Polaris, who had just become a harvester.
“How do you feel?”
“How are you still alive?”
“I didn’t die with just an arm left.”
Polaris grimaced at my words, turning her head to look at the sky. Watching the distant sea move, she sighed deeply.
“Is that Victoria?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“On the day we first met, she used water. Wait, could she really do it to that extent?”
Multiple spider-like legs stretched up from the river and sea, continuously supplying the floating sea in the sky.
“I didn’t know Victoria could do that either.”
Others are aware.
As the world develops and harvesters gain diverse knowledge, even the ability to manipulate the same fire can differ in skill levels.
Even if it appears to be the same fire-controlling ability, in reality, it could operate on completely different principles, yet the more knowledge one acquires, the more creative the applications become.
Based on that, it’s presumed that psychic abilities rely quite a bit on human imagination. In other words, if you can’t visualize scenes like those, you likely can’t create them.
It’s not due to a lack of power; it’s probably because you don’t know.
If you were to ask where you saw that scene, it would be from the first time she nearly drowned when she became a harvester. So, it was likely easy for her to imagine.
Polaris, looking around, turned her head between me and Victoria, unable to say anything.
Given her pale skin, it meant that the burns weren’t lethal. So, Polaris wasn’t just strong but also tough.
Yet, observing her hesitancy, it was clear she was still a child.
“The enemy was drowned by Victoria.”
“Is that so…? Then what will you do?”
“I should follow Victoria. What about you, Polaris?”
In a situation where their life might be at risk, rather than using someone as a shield, they chose to stand as their own shield.
I knew what kind of choice they’d roll with under pressure.
Polaris was silent for a moment, then lowered her head deeply.
“Let’s go get Victoria. We need to find out what exactly is happening. We’ve come this far; if we just turn back, it’s a loss. Let’s go.”
Humans always repeat foolish choices.
That’s the humanity I believe in.
“Yes. Let’s do that, Polaris.”
