Holding Victoria’s hand, we strolled around the city until we spotted a big restaurant and decided to go in.
We settled into a nice cozy corner, and after feeding her meat and sweets, she seemed to calm down and regain her spirit.
“What’s up with Dad…?”
“At least, he’s a good father. He’s been working so hard at the company for days that his mind has weakened, but he didn’t cross any lines or act poorly to succeed.”
He hadn’t returned home for a week, was under pressure to perform, and got fired as soon as he returned home to sleep just once.
I get it.
Yum.
Unlike the sweet and greasy cake I had on the ship last time, this place offers a neat cake. It has fruits and whipped cream, and the portion is just perfect, making it delicious.
This is tasty, indeed.
“Earlier, you mentioned something that only the two of us know.”
Maybe the sugar rush finally allowed her to think straight, as Victoria stared at me intently and opened her mouth.
“Did you mean the part where Dad could’ve succeeded if he had crossed the line? What does that even mean?”
It sounds like she’s asking me to explain it properly, instead of just saying something she doesn’t know.
“There were at least two possibilities at that moment.”
So, I decided to share both possibilities with her.
“Two?”
“First, putting your abilities on the test bed. Special abilities are great for research. Especially if they’re powerful. Plus, it’s a way for me to sell myself.”
Listening to me, Victoria silently bowed her head.
She got it right away. If they just abandon one child, they could explore various possibilities in the future.
Furthermore, Victoria is Morris’s daughter. If a father claims to experiment on his daughter, he’s bound to have a better chance of success.
“I figured that route existed. What’s the other one?”
“Do you remember that device Morris explained, the one that absorbs magic power from the air and converts it into rotational motion?”
“The one that was too inefficient to be useful? Why?”
I lifted my fork and pointed at the last remaining piece of cake.
“This is a human. This fork just slightly rearranged the order of that machine.”
Thump.
I pierced the cake and lifted it.
“As long as this cake exists, it produces enough efficient power to satisfy them.”
Aside from the fact that it grinds people up to use them as fuel, it’s not a bad way to generate power.
They say a similar technology existed in Daegon’s world. It was too inefficient compared to methods that grind even souls, so it flickered out and vanished.
“What a monster.”
Victoria looked at me with an expression of disgust.
Having eaten my fill, I set the fork down and watched as Victoria continued to eat when suddenly, a loud bang! echoed from outside.
Turning around, I saw through the shop’s glass window a few cars tangled together far down the road. With smoke billowing above, it looked like an accident had occurred.
“Huh? What’s that? An accident?”
Not just Victoria, but everyone dining in the place stood up, murmuring as they approached the windows.
Watching was fun, of course.
Victoria wanted to see too but didn’t want to let the cake go to waste, so she quickly shoveled it into her mouth while sitting down.
If that’s the case, take it with you and eat it!
Just as that thought crossed my mind…
Crash!
Kaboom!
A massive object smashed through the window, plowing into the crowd gathered by the window. Since the only side of the building with people was facing outside, it was only natural that those hit by the object didn’t stand a chance.
Debris and chunks of flesh showered everywhere, and the shop got drenched in a mix of rubble and gore in an instant.
Whatever smashed into people—it was a taxi. A self-driving machine modeled after a centaur with wheels instead of legs. The front was completely wrecked, and thick red liquid poured out from the gaps in the door, as if someone inside was trapped.
The amusing part? The broken wheels were still spinning wildly.
Then I heard a familiar voice cursing from behind.
It was Victoria!
She let out a string of profanities and rushed toward where the victims were to check for survivors. After confirming there were none, she came over to me.
“What the hell happened? Why is this thing still operational? The interpretation device seems to have shut down already.”
Suddenly, Victoria stopped speaking and hurled a water bottle from the nearby table at the machine. Crash! As the bottle shattered, a wave of water got sucked into the device at its core.
Moments later…
Hisssssssss.
A glowing red mass shot out with the water. According to Victoria’s memory, this was a device for converting magic power from the air.
But it wasn’t Morris’s invention. While the input and output were similar to Morris’s invention, this machine used a different principle.
To put it bluntly, it’s like the difference between a steam engine and a diesel locomotive. Morris’s invention is on the diesel engine side.
Anyway, the device immediately evaporated all the surrounding water.
Plop.
It was so hot that when it hit the wooden floor, flames instantly ignited.
In a panic, Victoria pleaded with the shop owner, who was too dazed from the scene before him, to switch on all the faucets. Then she used her water manipulation to pour it relentlessly for a while.
When the surroundings were completely soaked, and the bodies were pushed outside by the force of the water, the overheated mechanical mass finally cooled down.
Just so you know, the wheel that had been spinning even lodged into the wall began to lose power the moment the machine was removed, and was nearly about to stop.
“Why did the overheating occur? Isn’t that a phenomenon that only happens when magic power runs out?”
Victoria murmured as she pulled out some tool from the shop and began dismantling the machine. Every time she broke a part off, white smoke billowed up, but her wall of water blocked it all.
She controlled it as smoothly as if it were an extension of her body.
While Victoria was busy dissecting the device, I stepped outside.
The city was in chaos. Not just the intersection I saw from afar; everywhere my gaze landed, black smoke billowed up.
This wasn’t targeted at a particular place.
Accidents were happening throughout Bern City.
It wasn’t just the Cogni Transportation Company’s taxis causing the trouble. Most vehicles seemed to have accelerated unexpectedly, with cars crashing into buildings and other vehicles everywhere within view.
It’s highly likely that not just vehicles but other devices using the same technology were damaged as well.
When looking around with the perspective of the five workers near the outskirts of Bern City, nothing noticeable seemed to have happened.
They were merely working at a construction site. Since there were no tall buildings around, the workers could see far off from their scaffolding, but only faint smoke rising from the city center caught their attention.
In short, this was a phenomenon happening only inside the city.
“What the heck is this?”
Victoria, who had dismantled the machine, came over to me and spoke up. It didn’t seem like she was expecting a return question or anything.
“Dad… let’s go find Dad. Bell.”
Such a childish reaction. Where did that fierce Sahaquin from earlier go?
With a gritted jaw, Victoria began walking toward the company she left this morning. But before she reached the building, she stopped dead in her tracks.
Because she ran into Morris, who was rushing over.
“Victoria!”
“Dad!”
The father and daughter embraced. A heartwarming reunion.
“Kiddo, let’s head to Bi first.”
Bi was a nickname for Beatrice. The fact that he immediately thought of his wife makes him quite the husband.
I thought that as I followed the two crossing the street.
Explosions, the sounds of things burning, human screams, and cries mingled into a disaster-filled city.
Amidst the chaos, some cried out that magic wouldn’t work.
If you look just a bit above the ground, you can see buildings on fire. Not just one or two either, but numerous structures are ablaze.
It couldn’t be just the vehicles igniting, as it mostly showed flames coming from the higher floors.
The device Victoria pulled out earlier is used not just for vehicles but also buildings. If this were due to environmental issues, fires would surely break out everywhere.
Given the natures of the two before me, one would expect them to discuss what was happening, but they walked forward silently, hands tightly clasped.
That’s a clear sign of their anxiety.
Ultimately, their urgency bore fruit.
Between the burning buildings, there was Beatrice, shouting loudly for people to come out.
Victoria rushed over and embraced Beatrice tightly.
Beatrice looked surprised to see Victoria, then smiled at Morris behind her. Perhaps relieved to see he was unharmed.
“I’m glad you’re okay too.”
Beatrice approached me, checking me over as if assessing me thoroughly. This body is way tougher than my previous one, so there’s really no need to fuss.
Beatrice then subtly gestured around and asked me, “Do you know what’s going on?”
“No idea.”
“You don’t know either? What on earth is happening…”
Beatrice sighed.
Surprisingly, she wasn’t suspicious of me at all. Did she just let her guard down after living together for a week? This girl… She was so cautious at first, but her relaxing speed was oddly swift.
I appreciated it, though.
Beatrice led me to where Morris and Victoria were and said to Morris, “Morris, take Tori and get home right now.”
“No! Bi, that’s not it. We need to leave the city.”
Morris shook his head vigorously.
Then, looking around, he began speaking.
“Morris?”
“There are residual magical energies causing the air absorption device to behave abnormally, meaning, to skip the technical jargon, the city is filled with bombs about to explode, and the usable magic power has drastically decreased. It would be safer to head outside, where magic can still be used.”
Morris, being a technician, remained calm as he elucidated the situation, making it clear that he understood what was happening. Watching Beatrice’s expression of confusion made it amusing as he simplified his explanation.
In any case.
Beatrice nodded and began shouting for people to leave the vicinity and head to a safer area.
Meanwhile, Victoria was gazing up.
Up.
On the higher building. A child hanging onto the outside of the railing, trying to escape the flames. But the railing was already scorching hot.
Victoria’s gaze fixed on the falling child. She waved her hands, and a fresh mass of water emerged from the dry atmosphere, safely catching the child as they fell.
Looking down at her hands, Victoria moved forward.
“Tori?”
Before Morris could grab Victoria, she slipped away and ran toward the flaming site. Water started fountain-like spraying up from the sewer ahead of her, surging forward to extinguish the flames before her.
Like someone who always helps others.
They do what they can do, without needing a grand resolve or expecting to face death, nor even a lofty intention to do a good deed.
In a space emptied of special strength, a person capable of using unique strength moved thoughtlessly to save someone.
