Victoria made a new friend.
It’s Polaris, whom we met before. She’s a good person, and she came to help when Victoria became isolated. Thanks to that, I had the opportunity to hear what Victoria was thinking.
However, I don’t have any plans to actively resolve things.
Instead, I was planning to watch what Merryweather does while keeping in line with her rhythm.
I’ve tried to slowly seep into the situation over the years, but people grow up quickly, and it vanished fast. Even the end of the faded memories was like that.
It was really strange. I woke up without knowing anything, with no context, and found myself shoved into the cold.
That was when my human days ended. People die suddenly.
Which means, the time I have to meet Victoria is short.
Now, how should I get rid of this surveillance?
As long as the king is giving orders, even if this person changes, someone else will come. By then, I think it will be someone even harder for me to figure out.
If this person was inexperienced and I caught on, then yes.
Still, I might have a chance to ask for the escort to be lifted. I could ask through the prince or the king, saying I’m suffocating and want to be freed.
But to do that, I need to complete the early objectives.
I know what the royal family’s biggest goal is right now.
Aurora’s safety.
Aurora, who is working hard on rehabilitation to return to daily life at the palace, is planning to attend the Royal Academy next year.
Considering the age difference between Prince Solindigus and Princess Aurora, they’ll be able to meet for one year next year.
Which means, for a year, the prince and princess will be at the Royal Academy, so if there’s a terrorist attack, it will be dangerous, right?
Come to think of it, not everyone in the royal family dies. The eldest princess is currently studying abroad in another country, so if something happens, there will be survivors.
No, that’s not important. The royal family’s main objective is securing Princess Aurora’s safety.
And the one who caused the problem is the nameless witch.
The witch cursed Aurora and put her into an endless sleep.
I know that much.
I don’t know anything else.
No one talks about the witch in front of Aurora, so I can’t even get the exact name.
And Solindigus is planning to use me as bait to catch the witch.
The conditions are more than sufficient. After all, they’ve been praising me in the newspapers and broadcasts as the one who healed Aurora.
With my special superpowers, although a bit strange, Aurora woke up safely. So even if they’ve left the curse alone, when the princess wakes up, won’t the witch show up?
I assume the witch will take the bait, and that’s why the royal family assigned an escort to me.
So that’s it.
If I can make the escort catch the witch, that will work.
For that to happen, the witch has to take the bait.
The bait is none other than me.
So far, the paths I’ve been walking are too simple. The Royal Academy and the dormitory in front of the main gate. Basically, just those two.
If I were an attacker, I’d hope to wander around other places. I’d attack suddenly in an unsafe place.
By the way, I’ve already made an excuse for when I need it.
When I was called to the royal palace for having visited the Brightshin slums.
I said someone called me and I went there. I mentioned it before, hoping to use it one day, and now it’s the perfect excuse.
Coincidentally, a reason to support it has also come up.
My relationship with Victoria.
Special incidents are easy to understand.
Without even needing to explain much, the other side will automatically imagine things. When something happens, people want to link it to a special event.
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Even if there’s no real cause and effect.
Right now, during class.
Once class ends, I’ll go out and wander around.
I have no specific destination.
At least I’ll wander around the capital until dinner time. I’ll explore places the harvesters haven’t been to, filling out the map while walking aimlessly.
I want to make it easy for the witch to attack.
With only Merryweather as my escort, it’s likely that this person will be able to handle things when the witch appears.
And what if Merryweather gets seriously hurt, and her life is at risk?
Maybe I could turn her into a harvester and spy on the intelligence department.
How many of these things will actually happen?
After class, I headed straight outside.
I met Victoria’s worried gaze, but I just nodded at her with my eyes and left the Royal Academy.
“Huh? Where are you going? Aren’t you heading back to the dorm?”
Since I wasn’t walking my usual route, Merryweather asked, looking puzzled.
I just looked at the air and said,
“Maybe someone is calling me.”
It’s neither a lie nor the truth. I walk aimlessly. Of course, if I just walk around, I might be suspected, so I plan to wander a bit and then head toward the poor house that the harvester knows.
That day, not all the poor people in Brightshin were taken in.
The day Victoria and I were separated.
There are many people who missed their opportunity, like someone wandering in a back alley with no sunlight.
“Oh? Is that so? Then I guess I’ll have to follow you.”
This is a bit unexpected. I thought she’d ask me to stay somewhere safe since I’m being escorted, but she just let me go.
Maybe she’s bored of guarding me. She hasn’t been able to gather much information, and even though she’s been isolated for a long time, she doesn’t seem to rely on me, does she?
She probably hasn’t had results for a while and is looking for another way.
If I don’t need to persuade her, that’s fine by me.
But she’s busy too.
She’s dealing with me and preparing for the witch’s attack at the same time. She must be a very competent person.
That means she holds a high position and likely has access to a lot of information.
If something happens, I’ll make sure to use the escort as a shield. If she gets seriously injured, and her life is in danger, they’ll have to grab me.
Without knowing that it’s a rotten lifeline.
Clop, clop.
After walking for a while, I thought about it.
When I walk like this, I miss being small. I’m only half the size of an average adult. Even just calculating, my steps are half as long.
When I was using the body of Choseol, I was taller than most men, so even with the same amount of time, I could walk further.
But I’m not thinking of running. The concept is this.
I think I heard something from somewhere, but it’s too faint to know. Is this the right place?
It’s the perfect excuse for wandering around. I don’t have to say it’s real. The sound will be heard as I mumble in response.
In my mind, I’ll say, "I heard it directly through the harvester’s ears!"
Clop, clop.
From here on, it’s a road the harvesters haven’t been down. I turned off the main road and walked for a while, then entered a medium-sized road.
This is where the upper class lives. The poor in Brightshin never had the chance to come here.
To fill out the capital’s map, I’ll need to walk through here in advance.
It reminds me of when I was filling out the map of the underground temple in the first world. The harvester quickly finished after gaining that memory.
“Is there anyone who asks for help in a place like this?”
“I hear something.”
I was walking too openly, so Merryweather asked me with a strange look, and I mumbled in response.
The concept is important.
I turned into an alley from the road, but it’s a dead-end. I turn back, but the sound leads straight to my final destination.
That’s the place where the harvester, a woman, is raising a child she had before becoming a harvester. The child is severely malnourished.
The mother, now a harvester, feeds the child as best as she can, but only pale oatmeal won’t provide the nutrients the child needs.
For the record, the mother worked in the sex trade, and her husband was a thug. She married in a way close to wild animals, and she lives a miserable life.
Moreover, her thug husband died a while ago. In a world like this, death from doing something to someone stronger than you is common.
The body is thrown out the next day with food scraps.
There’s class disparity everywhere, and this world is no exception.
In a world where only pure good people live, it would be impossible to develop like this. People need desire to move forward.
That’s why I haven’t given up on this world.
If it were too evil a world, people would die in cycles, and only barbarism would remain, ending in destruction.
If it were too good a world, we wouldn’t be able to move past being primitive. Wandering around, taking responsibility for the injured, mourning the dead, and leading a life in constant motion.
Without greed, you can’t progress.
A world where technology has developed is good. At least I know there’s no utopia, and no world armed entirely with destruction, madness, and selfishness.
It’s the same world where people, wired into machines, live like plants, or where everyone is happy!
By the way, both worlds are the same.
Someone who woke up from a dream was endlessly miserable and wanted to return to the world of dreams. And then it reached me.
But the problem is? When I become a harvester, all my wounds heal? The connectors stuck in my body will come off, and I won’t be able to go back, not even for a check on my biological signals, just torn apart like a dead piece of meat.
Just before the last moment, it’s a bit sad that the reproductive organs are ripped out while I’m still alive.
Thinking about the far-off world, I continue walking slowly toward my destination, wandering along the way.
And that day.
At a dilapidated house at sunset, a child who could no longer walk became a harvester.
Unfortunately.