episode_0156

It’s midweek again.

It goes by very quickly because there is only one day that can be called the weekend.

Rather, it’s strange that there is a time called the weekend. There are many worlds where such a day off does not exist.

Anyway, we’re in class right now.

It’s a history class, but there are so many edited parts that it makes you wonder if it’s really a history class.

When explaining a war, the reasons for the outbreak of the war are not explained, or at some point, a country is invaded and decades just disappear.

Of course, there was so much destruction in the country that nothing remained, but there are many things that are lacking in being called history.

But there are some interesting things. In the history book that I think I learned last semester, there is a story about a warrior who actually defeated the Demon King.

Surprisingly, he didn’t become a king or get stabbed to death by people like an unnecessary hunting dog, but he lived a long life running a restaurant. It’s really funny that it’s written in the textbook that he made delicious food based on the food he tasted while crossing the continent.

anyway.

After history class, which had more to read about the distant past, it was lunch time.

“What on earth did you do yesterday?”

Victoria put a newspaper down in front of me. I looked through it and saw that the front page was about my story of making a harvester in the slums.

This is a picture of me from afar and a group of people kneeling and waiting for their turn.

It’s written as a saint who appeared in modern times.

This is not the way the Dormiens royal family wants it, but it’s well done. They’re trying very hard to remove the religious aspect, so is this newspaper going to be shut down too?

But for all that, this newspaper is a famous one that most of my harvesters know. It is famous not only here but also in Bern city.

Otherwise, the correction article will come out. A lot of people like it.

“I gave myself to the one who wanted me.”

“What does that mean?”

Victoria looks puzzled. I don’t know why she can’t understand what I’m saying.

“When you signed the contract, don’t you remember?”

“I don’t remember it vividly. No, what I want to ask is why you suddenly went to such a place.”

I could answer right here, but I asked this to add to the image of you being unfamiliar with the ways of the world.

“A place like that?”

“The slums are dangerous.”

Yes, it’s a dangerous place, I know. It’s definitely a place where people die, and it’s a place that no one in their right mind should go to.

It’s like when you go on a trip, you should avoid going to areas with poor public security to protect yourself.

But you know, Victoria.

“That’s where people scream because they want to live longer but can’t move forward. That day. Like Victoria who was there.”

She too was waiting for death as she turned into Sahagin. The girl who wanted to become a clockwork knight did everything she could until she died in a life-or-death crisis.

Of course, it failed and collapsed at the very end, but it still collapsed the nest. After that, it was filled with despair and resignation and was waiting for death.

“Ah, uh. Right, right.”

Victoria scratches her head. It’s not very girly, but that day still leaves a scar on her heart.

On the surface, it looked like a special forces unit, but the human mind is not that simple.

I grabbed her arm and put her down because I felt like my flesh would peel off. Victoria was not yet an adult.

“Did you go to save people?”

Victoria looked at my hands, then raised her head and asked me.

Salvation of a person, that’s what it looks like, right? In reality, it’s the opposite. They say that when I take away warmth, I take away all the potential that soul has.

That’s what it means to take away warmth.

To put it in an easy-to-understand analogy, it’s similar to conducting experiments on people who have fallen behind in society under the pretext of providing them with treatment for human experiments.

“No. You have to figure that out yourself. I just said something to the effect that you can still dream.”

Split the harvester in half, half for Daegon, half for Primordial Heaven. I’m cutting out their memories and putting them in. I say if you want to do something, do what you want, but you know what?

Most people live without dreams. They don’t know what they want to do.

But what if something flows in there?

Wouldn’t that be a dream?

It’s all a lie. You should always be careful about what you say on the outside. Don’t let the book catch you. If you do catch you, act like it was because you were a good person.

By the way, I interpret this person as being kind to me.

Hold many people in your arms.

The first world could support over a hundred million people. The world probably won’t collapse if only a few tens of thousands of people are harvested.

Even if I have a child, the contract is not transferred to me. Since the contract is already in place, I can just put it in without permission, but it doesn’t mean I will automatically be in it.

In other words, it means that you can choose not to put it in. I plan to manage the descendants of the harvester in that way.

“You’re just talking nonsense, you… … .”

“That’s true.”

Yes, that’s true.

I let go of Victoria’s hand. The harvesters are mostly happy to have received new life. But you’ll find out soon enough.

Nothing has changed.

For most people, not much has changed, except for those who have no limbs or have severe scars.

Even though our bodies have gotten better and our minds have gotten smarter, it is difficult to quickly turn around our current position in a society that has become so sophisticated that the wall between classes gets higher as time goes by.

If it were a world like the Second World where only force was required, then that would be fine, but in a world where killing people is natural, if you advance to a higher position, wouldn’t the tool for killing just change from a sword to a person?

Anywhere is fine.

What’s important is the memory of having someone reach out to you and help you get up. People who have always been in despair simply accept reality without any warmth.

But if you see hope, you can try. You can do anything to get better. No matter how cowardly and dirty it may be.

This is why I like false hope.

There’s nothing wrong with it morally. I was just telling you a nice story about dreaming.

I am confident.

But it’s hard to explain why I’m just saying the words. I have to tell the truth, so I might make a mistake somewhere. So I’ll change the subject a little.

“Victoria is also moving to achieve her dream, right? So it seems like you’re busy these days. How are you doing?”

I ask Victoria what she did when she wasn’t with me. Of course, I know everything she does because I can see it through her eyes, but it’s weird that I know things I shouldn’t know, right?

So, this is how you prepare in advance.

“Me? I met with the Clockwork Knight School teacher the day before yesterday and had an interview. I decided to go here with the teacher and learn what I can!”

There, Victoria looks up at the sky for a moment.

“It’s just like going to two schools, but if I try hard, I can somehow do it. Since the teachers helped me a lot, I’ll try hard too.”

There are so many really good people.

A teacher at the Royal Academy and a teacher at Clockwork Knight School. There must have been some differences, but when Victoria said she would do it, neither of them hated it and instead were delighted and decided to take care of it in various ways.

The teacher at Clockwork Knight School seems to be treating Victoria well because she was originally a hard-working student, but the teacher at the Royal Academy is really unexpected.

If you think about it, you’re learning from other people, not yourself, right?

Or maybe Victoria entered school at a good time when there was such a teacher.

If there is such a thing as fate, it is not for Victoria.

If it weren’t for me, Victoria would have died there.

Rather, the ideal environment for me may be in the process of being established in Bern City. A society that uses people as fuel.

It’s so radical that it will collapse at some point, but it will at least exist until it becomes inefficient and is discarded.

Now that I think about it, it might have been better for me if Victoria had died there.

Ugh… … No.

Then, you wouldn’t have been able to contact the Dormiens royal family and turn their princess into a harvester. Let’s say it wasn’t a bad thing.

And maybe.

If even I am within the great trunk of destiny.

I’ll ruin that destiny itself no matter what. The one that threw me to the bottom and left me shivering in the cold.

I can’t forgive you.

“Bell. Your expression is scary. What is it? Do you not want to be separated from me or something?”

“I was just thinking about something else.”

I was going to talk about fate, but I swallowed it. That’s not something you should say to a person.

“I’m worried that Victoria won’t have any friends if things continue like this. Will she have time to meet friends while studying?”

Victoria makes a face as if she’s been stabbed in the sore spot.

“Ah, no. Because studying is important? You can make friends later. Yeah. Since you supported my dream too? Isn’t it okay? Maybe.”

I’m making excuses.

I think he realizes the problem too. Wouldn’t it be better to go to Polaris and get a factory and work there?

It seems like your main job isn’t to be a clockwork engineer, but to kill someone.

Huh? Isn’t this better for me?

“Victoria. How about going to see Polaris?”

So I asked quietly. Victoria shook her head from side to side with a blank expression.

“I already rejected that, and before I do that, I’ll try what I can do first. When the exam period comes, I’ll probably cry and beg for my life… … .”

“If you are so determined, do whatever you want.”

Then Victoria reached out and poked my cheek with her finger.

“That’s annoying. What does Belle want to do from now on? You’ve been here for quite some time. Isn’t there something you want to do?”

Hmm.

There’s about half a grain of sincerity in it.

“I need warmth. I always do. So I’m always trying to get some warmth. That’s what happened in this newspaper.”

Then Victoria tilts her head.

“Warmth?”

“Someday, when a person dies after doing what he or she wants to do, the soul will be left behind and only the last bit of warmth will be taken with him or her.”

I use misleading sentences, I just tell the truth, I twist words to make people think that something is the same.

“Wherever Victoria goes, wherever she is, I will be with you until the day she dies.”

“No, I have to get married someday, so I can’t stay with you forever!”

Oh, right. You could misunderstand what I said like that? In such cases, I’ll say it like this to make it a little easier to understand.

“Even if this body dies first and disappears, we will be together.”

He looks at me with a surprised expression. I find it cute that there is a hint of worry in it.

“I don’t want Bell to die before me.”

“The body is a vessel. I myself cannot die, so there is no need to worry about that.”

Victoria looks at me with a mixture of emotions that are hard to describe.

“You call that God?”

“Then, should I call it a foreign news agency like other people do?”

I said that as a joke and got up from the table.

If you’re too late, the next class will start. That’s how lunchtime ended.