The weekday has returned again.
It’s strange because there’s only one day that can be called the weekend, so it feels very quick.
It’s almost odd that there’s even such a thing as a weekend. After all, there are many worlds where such rest days don’t exist.
Anyway, right now, I’m in the middle of class.
It’s history class, but there’s so much editing done to it that I’m starting to wonder if it can even be called history.
For example, they explain a war without mentioning the reasons for it, or they say that a country was invaded at a certain point in time, but decades are just erased.
Of course, the countries were so destroyed by that point that there was nothing left, but as history, it’s lacking in many ways.
But, there are still some interesting things. In a history book that I assume we studied last semester, there’s a story about a hero who defeated the Demon King.
Surprisingly, he didn’t become a king or die like a useless hunting dog stabbed by a person. Instead, he lived a long life running a restaurant. The textbook even mentioned that he made delicious food based on the dishes he tasted while crossing the continent. That was really funny.
Anyway.
After the history class about the distant past, lunch break.
“You, what the heck did you do yesterday?”
Victoria placed a newspaper in front of me. It turned out that my involvement in creating a harvest season in the slums was written on the front page.
The image shows me from a distance, with people kneeling and waiting for their turn gathered around.
It’s written as “The Saint Who Appeared in Modern Times.”
This isn’t the kind of thing the Dormiens royal family would want, but they still published it. They’ve been trying so hard to eliminate the religious aspects, so will this newspaper be shut down?
But despite all that, this newspaper is one of the most famous ones known by almost everyone in the harvest season. It’s famous in Vern City too.
Otherwise, they’ll probably release a correction article. A lot of people like it, after all.
“I gave myself to those who wanted me.”
“What does that mean?”
Victoria looks puzzled. I don’t know why she can’t understand when I’m saying this so clearly.
“Didn’t you remember when we made the contract?”
“I remember it vividly. No, what I want to ask is why you suddenly went to such a place.”
I could have answered right away, but I asked like this to add an image of being naive to the situation.
“Such a place?”
“The slums are dangerous, aren’t they?”
Yes. Generally, it’s a dangerous place. I know that too. It’s certainly a place where people die, and if you have any sense, you shouldn’t approach it.
It’s the same as when traveling: don’t go to areas with poor security to protect yourself.
But, you see, Victoria.
“It’s a place where people who want to live but can’t scream. Just like you that day.”
She, too, had transformed into a Sahagin and was waiting for death. The girl who wanted to become a wind-up knight kept doing what she could until she died in the face of life-or-death danger.
Of course, in the end, she failed and collapsed, but she still managed to destroy the nest. Then, she was filled with despair and resignation, waiting for death.
“Ah, right...”
Victoria scratched her head. It’s an action that doesn’t suit a girl, but that’s just how much that day left a scar in her heart.
On the outside, she seemed like a special forces soldier, but the human heart isn’t that simple.
She might end up peeling her skin if she keeps this up, so I pull her arm down. Victoria is still not an adult.
“Did you go there to save people?”
Victoria looked at my hand, then raised her head to ask me.
Saving people, huh? It does look like that, right? But in reality, it’s the opposite. When I absorb warmth, I take away all the possibilities that soul has.
Absorbing warmth is just that.
To make it easier to understand, it’s like conducting human experiments under the pretense of healing the abandoned people in society.
“No. That’s something they have to do themselves. I just said some flattering words to make them believe that they can still dream.”
I divided the harvest season in half: one for Daegon, the other for the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign. I’m inserting their memories bit by bit. I tell people who want to do something to do what they want, but do you know?
Most people live without dreams. They don’t even know what they want.
But what if something enters there?
Wouldn’t it become a dream?
It’s all deception. What’s said on the surface should always be approached with caution. So that the book doesn’t get caught. Even if it does, it’s like people will say it was because this person was kind.
By the way, this "kind" person interprets it as someone who benefits me.
I take in many people.
The first world managed over 100 million people. Probably, even if only a few thousand become harvest seasons, the world won’t collapse.
Even if they have children, the contract isn’t inherited. If I take them without permission, that’s fine, but I’m not automatically included.
In other words, it means you can choose not to include them. I’ll think about managing the descendants of the harvest season in that way.
“Flattering words, huh...”
“It’s the truth.”
Yes, it’s the truth.
I let go of Victoria’s hand. Most harvest seasons are happy as if they’ve been given a new life. But they’ll realize soon.
Nothing has changed.
Unless someone had no arms or had severe scars, most people don’t change much.
They get healthier, their heads become smarter, but in a society that’s rapidly advanced, it’s hard to turn over the position they once had. The wall between classes gets higher over time.
If it’s a world like the second world, where only strength matters, maybe that’s fine, but in a world where killing people is natural, even if they rise to a higher position, the killing tools just change from a sword to a person, right?
Anywhere is fine.
The important thing is the memory of someone reaching out a hand to help them climb up. People who were in despair accept reality without warmth.
But if they see hope, they can try. They’ll do anything to get better. Even if it’s cowardly and dirty.
That’s why false hope is good.
Morally, there’s no problem. I just told them to dream, didn’t I?
I’m confident.
But it’s hard to explain why it’s flattering. Since I have to tell the truth, I might make a mistake somewhere. So, I twist the subject a little.
“Victoria, you’re moving to fulfill your dreams too, right? You seem busy lately. How have you been?”
I ask Victoria about the things she’s been doing when she hasn’t been with me. Of course, I can see things from her perspective, so I know everything she’s been doing, but it would be strange if I knew things I shouldn’t, right?
So, I ask like this in advance.
“Me? I met with the wind-up knight school teacher yesterday and had a meeting. I decided to learn what I can with the teachers here!”
Victoria looks up at the sky for a moment.
“Although it’s like going to two schools at once, that’s something I can manage if I try. The teachers helped me a lot, so I’ll do my best.”
There are really many good people.
The teacher at the Royal Academy and the teacher at the wind-up knight school. There’s clearly some difference, but when Victoria said she wanted to, neither of them hated it and were rather happy to help.
It seems like the wind-up knight school teacher is kind to Victoria since she was originally a hardworking student, but the teacher at the Royal Academy is really surprising.
If you think about it, she’s learning from someone else, not herself.
Maybe it’s just that Victoria entered at a good time, with good teachers.
If there’s such a thing as fate, it wasn’t for Victoria.
If it wasn’t for me, she would have died there.
Rather, the ideal environment for me might be being prepared in Vern City. A society that uses people as fuel.
It’s so radical that it would collapse at some point, but at least it would last until the point where efficiency drops and people are discarded.
Thinking about that, it might have been better for me if Victoria had died there.
Ugh... No.
Then I wouldn’t have been able to make contact with the Dormiens royal family and turn that princess into a harvest season. So, it wasn’t exactly bad.
And maybe.
Maybe I’m also part of this huge fate.
If that’s the case, I’ll make sure to destroy it no matter what. The one who shoved me to the bottom and made me shiver in the cold.
I can’t forgive it.
“Belle. Your face looks scary. What’s wrong? Do you not want to be with me anymore?”
“I just had other thoughts for a moment.”
I was about to talk about fate, but I swallowed it. It’s not something you say to a person.
“If this continues, it seems like Victoria won’t have any friends. Is there time to make friends while studying?”
Victoria gives me a look as if I’ve touched a sore spot.
“Ah, no. Studying is important, right? I can make friends later. Yeah. You’ve supported my dream, so it should be fine. Probably.”
She’s making excuses.
I guess she’s aware of the problem herself. Maybe it would be better for her to go to Polaris and work at one of their factories.
Her main job would probably be killing people, though.
Huh? Isn’t that better for me?
“Victoria, how about going to meet Polaris?”
I ask gently. Victoria shakes her head with a pouty expression.
“I’ve already rejected it. Before doing that, I’ll try what I can do first. When the exams come, I’ll probably be crying, asking to be saved...”
“If you’re ready, then do what you want.”
Then, Victoria reached out and poked my cheek with her finger.
“You’re annoying. What about you, Belle? You’ve been here for quite a while now. Don’t you want to do something?”
Hmm.
She’s about half-serious.
“I need warmth. As always. So I’m working hard to get it. What happened in that newspaper was also for that.”
Then Victoria tilts her head.
“Warmth?”
“When a person dies after doing what they wanted, the soul stays behind, but the last warmth is all that’s left.”
I use a sentence that’s easy to misunderstand, but I just speak the truth. I twist the words to make them think it’s something else.
“Wherever you go, Victoria, I’ll be with you until you die.”
“No, I’ll eventually get married and everything, so I can’t be with you forever!”
Ah, right. I can see how my words can be misunderstood like that. In situations like this, I say it a little more clearly.
Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.
“Even if this body dies and disappears, I’ll still be with you.”
She looks at me with a surprised expression. The worry in her face is kind of cute.
“I don’t want you to die before me, Belle.”
“The body is just a vessel. I can’t die, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
Victoria looks at me with a mix of emotions that are hard to describe.
“Is that what they call a god?”
“Then, do you want to call me a foreign god like others do?”
I say it as a joke and get up from the table.
It’s getting late, and the next class is about to start. That’s how the lunch break ends.