episode_0142

The next day.

I woke up Victoria, who couldn’t get up even when it was time to get up, washed her, changed her clothes, and left her standing in the doorway.

And Morris took it with him when he went to work.

It’s still early morning, and the sky is blue. There’s a truck parked next to the mansion. I know, but trucks look the same everywhere.

It has wheels, a lot of space to carry things, and just a place to sit and steer.

There was room for two children to sit, but I gave up the front seat to Victoria and got in the back.

Considering that there were no restrictions on riding in the back, I guess there is no law against carrying people in the back. I guess there haven’t been many deaths yet.

The car started off and I sat in the back.

The car headed towards the center of Bern city. Fortunately, there weren’t many cars around since it was close to dawn.

Because I could get to my destination comfortably without having to sit in the car for a long time.

On the street, you can see taxis and cars going back and forth, as well as workers and laborers with tired faces going to work.

Of course, the workers are not on the main road, but in an alley off the main road. It means that they are separated, as if they are beings who cannot come out.

In other words, there is discrimination.

This is a story I like.

Just making a harvester means it will automatically kill people.

Hehehe.

As I was looking at the lights and darkness of the city, the car arrived at its destination.

When you get out of the car, there is a huge company building that requires an access card to get in.

At the entrance to the building you will see a sign that says Enchant Company.

Is this a company that has the technology to do something using magic?

The company name listed on the documents Beatrice was filling out wasn’t that. They must be working for different companies.

Well, you don’t necessarily have to marry the person next to you.

Maurice spoke to the security guard, got something from inside, and gave Victoria and me guest badges.

And then I drove the car deep inside.

At the back of the tall building. There was a factory-like building. Maurice parked the car somewhere other than the parking lot and took Victoria and me inside the building.

“Wow.”

Victoria lets out a gasp of admiration. She then goes on to list the names and uses of the equipment in front of her. It seems like it’s a hard-to-find piece of equipment.

After Morris took a quick look around the empty space, he took me to where he worked.

It’s not a room, but an area divided by partitions, and there’s a variety of equipment there. If you look at the materials hanging in one corner, you’ll see the name of Morris Batt and his position as a development team researcher.

The location is far from the central equipment, so it seems like there won’t be many people to meet.

Morris holds up the equipment he has made and eagerly explains it to his daughter. He talks about how it is technically sound, what it is for, and how it is not efficient now, but if improved, it will become something amazing.

Honestly, I don’t care about technology.

By the way, the technology itself has its own outstanding aspects.

Any particularly shining memories?

It’s Daegon. Well.

If people are cheap, you can make efficient equipment. You just have to combine the equipment inside.

In that sense, Maurice is an outstanding person.

There is a problem with this technique being recognized, however, as there are no visible traces of corpses around.

The method is simple. Just change the order slightly from the blueprint Morris advocates, and place the part that absorbs the magic power into a person instead of waiting.

People are like filters and catalysts? I remember something like that.

But do they need this?

While I was watching the woman talking with that thought in mind, people started coming to work one by one, as if it was time to go to work.

Surprisingly, there is no gender inequality inside. The ratio of men and women who come to work is similar. Even the races are diverse.

Some people have horns on their heads, some have long ears, and some have hairy, carnivore-like ears and tails.

But one thing.

There is a problem.

The way people who come in look at this place is very bad. They laugh at you, look down on you, and wonder why you haven’t left yet.

As soon as you see me, you try to hide your expression, but it’s impossible to hide your expression from me with that.

And among those people, there are some who show hostility and head off somewhere.

Any sensible person would want to get Victoria out of here.

But I don’t think so.

If I could, I would like Victoria to do what she wants to do.

As I sensed the signs of misfortune ebbing away, I waited for someone to trigger it. This was a good moment for that person to appear.

After a while.

A middle-aged man with a stern look and a young woman with a stern look are approaching together. Judging from the fact that the young woman is following one step behind the middle-aged man, the woman appears to be some kind of secretary.

That is, middle-aged men are people of high class.

He walked past me and straight towards Maurice.

“You brought a child to the lab without permission. Morris.”

“Director of the research lab!”

Maurice ran out in a hurry and bowed his head.

If there was any decency in this place, they wouldn’t swear at their father in front of their child.

“Hasn’t it been a long time since you’ve been working without doing anything properly and just receiving research funds? I told you to be prepared if there are no results by this week? And you even broke the company’s rules. Have you forgotten that this is a restricted area? Morris.”

But there are always people who lack manners.

Maurice bows his head repeatedly, apologizing, and Victoria behind him looks at him with a miserable expression.

The humidity in the factory is dropping.

Power is impulsive.

There are many people who want a job at the research institute, and even if you work without sleeping, there are a lot of people who want to work there, so they swear at you and ask what you are doing.

That’s a very bad curse word too.

There is no one around to watch,

But I know you’re listening. There are a few people who catch my eye out of the corner of their eye. Some are just curious, others look pleased, and others are worried that I won’t be the one getting shot.

Of course, there are people who are worried about Morris, but they are more afraid of the person who is the director of the research institute.

All companies are like that.

The director of the research institute just does his job, of course, and if there are no results, he can tell them to leave.

Common sense tells you that whoever brought a child to this place where security is important is bad.

Very, very good situation.

It’s okay if Victoria crosses the line.

It’s okay if Maurice sells Victoria out.

A person’s life can change very simply. All you have to do is get off the road once.

A very small theft, a very small lie, a very simple choice of another victim.

You will definitely want to live the way you want, but you will end up living a life where you cannot live the way you want.

puck.

The man who was the director of the research institute who had been yelling at Morris eventually hit Morris on the head with the folder he was holding, apparently unable to control the anger that arose from his words.

“You, to our father-”

“Victoria!”

Before the water could quickly strangle the lab director’s neck, Maurice shouted loudly.

“I’m sorry, Director. Victoria. I don’t think I can show you around where I work today. I’ll just walk you to the entrance. Director. I’ll take the kids outside and I’ll take care of the rest.”

He spoke while wiping his bleeding face.

And between the crying and the lamentation and the sorrow, there is a determination that sways.

indeed.

No matter what, he’s still a father?

Or does it mean that the inside hasn’t rotted away yet?

It seems like if I rot and decay a little more, and do things that shouldn’t be done lightly, a situation will arise where warmth can gather…

But instead of making a choice that would have earned him recognition at work, Maurice took his daughter’s hand and walked out.

In the meantime, I made a small mistake of forgetting about you and leaving, but I’ll let you be lenient since you must be out of your mind.

“Little one.”

“What’s going on?”

As I was walking along with the two who had gone out first, a man who said he was the director of the research institute spoke to me. When I turned around, the man who said he was the director of the research institute stared at me and then took a step back.

He stares at me as if he’s forgotten what he was going to say.

When the secretary next to him asked, “Who is the manager?”, he extended his hand and pointed to the entrance.

“Tell Maurice Batt to write a letter of resignation.”

“Okay.”

It’s a tool with many possibilities, but it’s also just luck that it’s disappearing like this. Based on Daegon, it’s a very early technology, but it’s also a starting technology that leads to some other technology.

It was efficient at the time, but as time passed and technology developed, it became mediocre and was discarded.

Using living matter as fuel is much more effective when you use your soul as well.

I went out.

The two were discovered as soon as they left the building.

Outside the door, Victoria is crying and hugging Maurice, while Maurice is stroking his daughter’s head.

“You looked so sorry to those two.”

As I approached, Maurice smiled bitterly and said to me,

“The director of the research institute has been writing his resignation letter for a long time.”

Maurice nods with a resigned expression.

As I was looking at him like that, I suddenly became curious.

“1473256?”

I told him the most efficient form of the technique he had shown me, so that he wouldn’t just act like he didn’t know, or else it would just seem like a malicious flash.

The order of the equipment I showed you earlier is 1, 2, 3 from the left. The one on the far right is 7. I changed the order.

His expression hardened.

Ah, this is the expression of someone who knows.

“Even if you know it, pretend it doesn’t exist. That’s a technique that shouldn’t be used.”

“All technologies developed by this company will be owned by the company.”

“I know. But why would I want to dig up this guy’s skills? And as I leave, I’ll discard as much of the parts that aren’t legally problematic as possible.”

Victoria looked back and forth between me and Maurice, not knowing what was going on. Maurice grabbed Victoria and hugged her.

As if protecting her from me.

“You are a much scarier person than I thought.”

“It’s a monster.”

I corrected my words and approached him.

If someone does something good, they should be praised even though they could have easily gotten out of the way. Most people can’t make that choice, and instead, they’re busy laughing at the good deeds of others, right?

“You managed to protect your daughter. I praise you.”

So the monster takes over. On the other side, he knows the value of what he has done the most.

And we know that its value can be lost in an instant.

At my words, Maurice smiled awkwardly and stroked his hardened hair, from which blood was dripping. Then he took his wallet out of his pocket and handed me the money.

“Please help me comfort my daughter.”

And he hugged his daughter once and went inside.

As I was looking at him, something suddenly occurred to me.

He is a man who loves his daughter so much. If his daughter had not returned, what choice would he have made…?

I stared blankly at the other reality where the Enchant Company was soaked in blood, then erased it, and left the company, holding Victoria’s hand as she sobbed.

Let’s take a tour of the city.