The child is hanging like a cat held in someone’s hand.
Oof!
Because they probably lost even the strength to feel pain.
“Why are you asking Tori that?”
Merryweather looks at me with a strange expression. I glance around.
Fear, confusion, anger, yet the frustration of not daring to speak, annoyance, boredom. There are many people here, each with their own unique emotional expressions.
“The only one here who can show sympathy for the child and talk to me is Victoria.”
In fact, I’m coercing them to judge what will happen to the child. I think that if it’s Victoria, with her abundant compassion, she won’t let this child remain with their arm severed.
The harvesting period should never be according to my wishes. Of course, if I were famous, I could push for choices with wishes involved, but such gazes are absent here.
That’s why I had to forcefully create the first harvesting period in the Brightshin slums.
“What if Tori just lets that be?”
Merryweather wears a mischievous expression. Still, the child hoped. They think of making it into a harvesting period.
But right now, they need to be isolated, right?
They’re talking about something that a monster would say.
“I won’t do anything.”
I don’t talk about not wanting to do anything. If everything I say must be the truth, I have to be careful with my words.
I shifted my gaze from Merryweather, who was looking at me with a face full of interest, to Victoria. Victoria wasn’t concerned with the conversation; she was blocking the blood coming from the child’s hand with her powers.
Then, as if realizing something, she looked down at her hand and waved it around.
The hand that was on the floor rose into the air.
Then it flew to the child’s wrist, paused a bit, and the fluid inside began to flow out straight from both sides.
I thought she was going to squeeze more bodily fluids, planning to kill the child, and watched. After slowly rotating her hand until the liquid pillar aligned perfectly at the severed end, as soon as it matched, it fused together immediately.
“Oh my, you can use healing magic from there?”
From the spot with moisture, light erupted from inside the cut, welding the severed parts together. And after a moment.
When the light dimmed, a hand without a single scar emerged.
“My arm?”
The child muttered, almost in a hoarse voice, as they looked down at their arm. What a terrible way to fuse it.
Rather than saying it’s healing a person, it’s closer to repairing a machine. Connecting the severed parts and welding them.
And a person is bio-machine, right?
“Wow, this actually works.”
Victoria looked at it with a face that seemed to think she couldn’t believe her own success. The surrounding voices buzzed.
Then she approached the child, touching their arm here and there.
“Yep. It’s all attached. The arm was more complicated than I thought.”
Then she set the child down and gave their back a light pat.
My harvesting period candidate vanished into the alley. As I watched the fish I had let slip away, Victoria locked eyes with me.
“Is this the right thing to do?”
I inhaled a deep sigh inwardly and replied.
“Yes, it is.”
For you guys, that’s right. Victoria Bet. But remember, my likability rating just plummeted vertically.
“I thought Bell was a good person, but it seems not?”
Merryweather came closer and asked me slyly. Victoria opened her mouth to say something but then shut it. It seems she knows I’m not of good character.
“If we consider a person’s standards, it’s evil.”
Of course, I say this knowing that it wouldn’t truly sound evil. Most of the time, saying it themselves is utterly pointless.
Good people don’t act kindly because they’re doing kind things; they think it’s something they must do and act accordingly.
Living benevolently is the norm.
So, a society that respects individuality can easily become an environment where villains thrive. If we can’t bundle everyone as “normal,” there’s a lack of strength to catch those who stand out.
Anyway.
It means there’s no bigger liar than a person who declares themselves to be good. I’m sure even Merryweather knows this obvious fact.
So after saying I’m bad, I pointed at Merryweather this time.
“Merryweather was bad too.”
“Because you severed the child’s hand?”
“No. Victoria came out to play, and now Victoria is feeling bad. You take responsibility.”
If you’re too good, it’s hard to use them. Anyone with knowledge about the endings of prophets of universal religions knows that.
If I’m sufficiently monstrous, those who want to take advantage of me think I’m equal to them or even a lesser hypocrite.
It’s easy to spot fools who say they dislike perfect humans, searching for their shortcomings in comparison. They fear gods and harbor disdain for advanced AI. They’re scared of beings superior to them in every aspect.
Because they’ve always found their worth through comparison, they can’t stand the thought of enduring being low in every measure.
So they create easily identifiable weaknesses. Is this what you call humanity?
“Hmmm, aren’t you being too protective of Victoria? Or is it that? Dependency?”
“Merryweather Allcat. Is this really a guard duty?”
Believing in cognitive distortion or not, her probing was so blatant that I decided to issue a warning. At that, Merryweather stepped back and apologized.
“Sorry, sorry. I guess I was too interested in Bell. I find it really hard to know what you’re thinking.”
Looking at the sentence, it’s clearly not a proper apology, but if her cognitive abilities are diminished, she probably wouldn’t feel that unease.
Even if her abilities aren’t that strong, an ordinary person should pick up on the odd bits here.
I decided to ignore it.
“Yes. Got it.”
That’s when it happened.
“That person, it’s that person.”
A strangely revolting mutter reached my ears. Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw a narrow alleyway within a narrower alleyway.
In midsummer. Unless the sun is at its zenith, there’s a gaze looking at us from an alley that doesn’t receive sunlight.
The kind of person exactly like the impoverished I saw in Brightshin.
But their gaze is focused not on me, but on Victoria.
Among the cacophony surrounding us, picking out their voices isn’t hard. I can think many thoughts at the same time, you see.
They’re muttering phrases like:
Purple hair. A girl. Strong healing abilities. Mercy. No-cost.
I’m only aware of fragmented information. From that, it could be me, or it could be Victoria. Or it could even be a girl who awakened healing abilities in the slums.
But she’s not “that person” yet.
Because she’s never used that healing ability on anyone besides her family. She did that just two days ago.
When a harvesting period acquires psychic abilities, they immediately realize the abilities they have. But I won’t know until they use it.
Even if they get used to using it to some extent from the start, everyone experiences it for the first time. It’s a story of trial and error.
They definitely experience an experiment on how far their abilities can be effective.
It’s then I understand that this harvesting period has gained psychic abilities.
Considering how long the girl hid her abilities, there might still be psychics I haven’t discovered yet.
I must be more attentive to such aspects going forward.
That’s that, the individuals within the alleyway ran off as soon as our gazes met.
They could let loose a bit more of their desires…
Meanwhile, Victoria sighed as she looked around. Many people were already staring at Victoria intently.
“I guess I can’t come here anymore.”
“Victoria made a wrong choice.”
I stepped closer to Victoria. If it were Choseol’s body, she’d still be a little girl. This child too.
I extended my hand and grasped hers. Then I applied force, making her bend down. I held her head with both hands.
“What do you mean I made a wrong choice?”
Even with my face held, she still kept her sulky expression and asked.
“Victoria should have died there. Then Morris would have fallen into despair and would have made machines he shouldn’t have created, and Beatrice would have been destroyed. In the end, their relationship would have torn apart.”
I wanted to say what I’d been wanting to say while using Merryweather as an excuse.
“From the moment you held my hand there, you’ve been making wrong choices all along.”
And then I pinched both her cheeks and let go, turning around. I walked towards Merryweather, who was looking at me with an interesting expression.
“Even now, you are.”
Merryweather was ruminating on what those words meant. A person highly likely working in a place like the kingdom’s intelligence agency.
The last king already suspected me.
About what my identity is.
That was probably for Aurora. To save Aurora, she made a contract with me, but everything is too late!
“Let’s go, Merryweather. There’s no one here calling for me.”
“Hey, did Tori do something you don’t like? If it’s because of me, I’m sorry, so how about we reconcile here and go?”
Hmm. I see straightforward malice emerging.
If I reconcile here, it’s obvious the relationship will get more twisted. I see what she’s doing; it’s funny.
Let’s go along with it.
“That’s what she says, Victoria.”
“Are you out of your mind?”
“I think so too.”
A course of action that completely disregards feelings. An act aimed at breaking the context of relationships.
“Are you going to reconcile?”
In response to my question, Victoria stared at me. The air grew tense. The dry atmosphere sucked the moisture from my body.
In contrast, my body felt damp. I scratched myself feeling the cold.
“Is it necessary?”
“No.”
Victoria looked at me intensely before passing by. The air returned to the way it was.
Victoria didn’t even give Merryweather a glance, she simply passed her and exited the alley.
“Wow. This is bad. But Bell, you said some harsh things. No matter how much you dislike something, you should have acted maturely and reconciled there.”
Immediately distinguishing between adults and children, she tries to pin me as the weaker party. Yeah. It’s obvious gaslighting. I was going to pretend to fall for it, but I shook my head.
“Victoria did something wrong.”
She ain’t bad. Others are bad. That’s such childlike denial.
Look. Merryweather’s smile is getting more pronounced, right?
“Tori was kinda weird. I mean, cutting off the wrist of a poor person and complaining about it? Ignoring you, trying to heal them? It was like she wanted to replace you.”
Saying something so obvious that threatens my position makes me want to laugh. She pretends to care for me while setting up space between us, doesn’t she?
“Is that so?”
“But we do need to reconcile, right? You’re not totally against that, are you? But today… let’s think about it for a day.”
In essence, she’s saying to spill out my troubles. Spilling out troubles means pouring out my thoughts.
Certainly, she’s someone from the intelligence agency.
I know ignoring this person will yield the answer they’re looking for. I said nothing and began to walk toward the accommodation.
Merryweather, attempting to hide her joy, tried to pacify me. Now and then whispering things that would create a rift between me and Victoria.
I began responding little by little as if I were being drawn in while making my way back to the hostel.
Merryweather seems oblivious.
The last moment I spoke with Victoria. The atmosphere was tense, and my belly felt damp.
Victoria said Merryweather was strange and, if she knew, she should scratch her arm.
When she asked if I needed help, I answered no.
Sorry, but Merryweather.
Victoria is probably smarter than you think. Underestimating someone who aims to kill the Sahaquin and the one summoning Daegon to massacre while being on her own is a misstep.
Victoria is strong against adversity.
She can notice treacherous tactics and respond.
Right now, the fastest way to gain warmth would be to side with Merryweather, but this time I’d like to choose to side with her.
Although the time to gain warmth has stretched further, I can also say a rich future awaits if I don’t cause trouble.
It feels burdensome as if this isn’t fast food but a solid healthy meal considering only nutrients, but that’s the key. The plans for the automatic warmth system are proceeding smoothly without major issues.
So in the meantime. For several hundred years.
Let’s play happily together.
