episode_0019

Hieronymus and Joanna are back.

Judging from the confident attitude of Hukkeshni and the response of Jerome, it seems that they had agreed in advance for Hukkeshni to take care of me.

Hmm?

You could call it surveillance. I’ve been under surveillance from the beginning anyway, and I’m not doing anything that would be nitpicky.

When you think of my profession as a witch, do you think I’m being studied?

If that’s the case, I have no intention of quietly being studied.

Because in this case, if you let your guard down and it gets sealed, you won’t be able to get any warmth.

We don’t know yet if seals actually exist, but in a world with magic, it’s less likely that they don’t exist.

Isn’t it common for everyone to put a lid on something difficult to face and throw it into the future?

It goes without saying that most of the results are not good.

Anyway, Jerome told me.

I prepared some warmth.

Wow! Finally!

I’m so excited!

I said something more in the meantime, but it wasn’t important, so I guess it’s okay!

Hieronymus said he would come and pick her up after lunch, and he called Hukkeshni and they left together.

And Joanna and I were left behind.

It’s back to normal.

Once I got to my new home, I got up and looked around the room. It was smaller than my last room, but there were lots of windows, so it felt a lot more open.

What’s surprising is that there are clean glass windows.

If I remember correctly, glass wasn’t something that came very late, right? No, if you think about stained glass, it’s been around since the Middle Ages, right?

I’m not sure.

At least I know that this world has made some progress.

Of course, I know some parts of this world through the memories of the people I’ve licked so far, but I don’t know the details.

If you look only at the visible parts, the landscape between the Middle Ages and the modern era is divided into pieces, and between those landscapes, magical tools form the infrastructure.

Magic is a fairly common skill. In fact, it was not uncommon to see magic items in Rebecca Rolf’s house, and during Joanna’s childhood and early marriage years, magic items were often seen.

Of course, once I became poor, I hardly ever saw it.

At best, the only thing that could be created using the technology called magic was a light that illuminated the streets.

As I was looking out the window and guessing at the level of technology in this world, Joanna came over and opened the window wide.

Oh, you thought I was looking because I didn’t know how to open the window? I looked outside while the window was open.

Most of it is wilderness. There are some grasslands here and there, but most of it is rock and sand. The trees appear to be plants that have evolved into cacti-like forms.

It certainly doesn’t seem like a suitable area for anyone to live in.

In other words, it is an area that is difficult for people to access. It is a suitable environment for a large cult to establish a nest.

Religious groups tend to go to remote places like this.

It’s hard to get in, and it’s also hard to get out.

It’s the perfect place for a cult to thrive.

Even if you run away, most of the villages around here are affiliated with the Future Hope Church, so there are only enemies.

And these sects are obsessed with apostates and execute them publicly. That’s the only way they can keep people bound by fear.

In other words, if anything happens, it seems like escaping from this cult would be quite an arduous task.

Otherwise, we need to make it so that there is no need to run away from this cult.

I slowly closed the window, following Joanna’s steps in reverse, and sat down on my bed.

There’s no particularly ominous vibe here.

No, strictly speaking, they’re not inside this room, they’re outside the room. They’re less sinister than the four in the basement, but there are about five times as many of them.

I guess I’m quite scary?

I wish you would let your guard down a little more.

She happens to be wearing the mask of a young girl. Well, her chest is quite large for a child, but she is short, so she can be seen as a child.

Aren’t girls the ones you should let your guard down?

While thinking like that, I was resting in my room just like I did when I was in the basement, and Joanna also started working like she did in the basement.

Clean up the area, and when it’s time, go outside and prepare food. The difference from the underground is that Joanna’s travel time is very short.

There’s a restaurant nearby.

As it is a church of hope with many believers, it has a large kitchen.

But Joanna doesn’t go there. There are several kitchens in this building. Dedicated kitchens that use fresh and precious ingredients, not cheap and quantity-oriented ones.

There is a separate place for such high-ranking people under the guise of religion. Honestly, it’s quite funny.

I eat the food Joanna brings and return the dishes to Joanna, who then takes them back, washes them, dries them, and puts them away.

But Joanna was still in the restaurant.

Hieronymus came to see me.

“I have prepared a place to give blessings. Come with me.”

I can finally get some warmth!

I happily followed Jerome’s steps.

But doesn’t Hieronymus care that Joanna isn’t there?

Are you just one of the believers and not interested?

It’s a pity. If Hieronymus thinks she’s important, he’ll keep her by his side, and then he’ll be able to see a lot of things. Whether it’s an enemy or a subordinate, he’ll be able to see how she responds.

You can’t force something that doesn’t exist.

I just followed him and kept walking.

He took me underground, not outside.

After walking for a while, I realized where I was going.

It’s an altar.

The place where I was first summoned.

I got there.

When I opened the door to where the altar was and went in, it was already full of believers. It was even more crowded than when I was summoned. This means that more people came than before.

I didn’t know what he was planning to do, but I followed along obediently.

Climb the steps on one side of the Step Pyramid with Jerome.

When we reached the stone bench on the altar, Jerome had me sit down there and, like the leader of a cult, he began to preach.

The introduction is quite long, but to summarize it briefly, it is simple.

You are unfortunate.

But God picked it up.

If you believe, happiness will come.

The more you pray, the greater your happiness becomes.

Ultimately, the underlying hope is that someone will save you.

In addition, they introduced me as an apostle of the god they believe in and said that they would show me miracles from now on.

They explain that if you offer a sacrifice, you will receive a blessing.

Hmm, I guess I really need to give them warmth in order to receive blessings.

So that’s why it took so long.

It was my fault for not saying anything.

But I have no intention of correcting that.

I won’t answer unless you ask.

And then later, if you ask me if a sacrifice was really necessary, I will say that I never asked.

There is a hint.

When I gave my blessing to Joanna, I never received an offering.

So it was Jerome’s fault for not asking.

I sat on the stone chair and waited, as Jerome had said. Whose warmth would I take and whose blessing would I give in return?

After finishing his sermon, Jerome shouted at the two men.

They are a couple, a man and a woman.

no.

No, that’s not true.

The two people walking towards each other are each carrying a baby in their arms.

According to Jerome’s account, they are a couple and their child. The children are twins.

To the couple who came up, Jerome said in a respectful voice that they had been chosen and that they must now offer a sacrifice in order to receive a blessing.

They were so happy and without a doubt, they handed me the baby in their arms.

If you look at the light, it shines well. However, the warmth is small compared to the light. In fact, the couple in front has a lot more warmth even though the light is slightly smaller than the baby.

Looking at its appearance, it really is a newborn baby.

A bright red baby whose eyes cannot be opened properly.

A man’s old memory cries out, “Will you really take away that baby’s warmth?”

He’s shouting, “Do you really want to fall below human level?”

No, what.

I don’t necessarily want to get the warmth of a baby. Rather, I want to have parents who are much warmer.

But that’s not what Jerome wants.

Hmm.

Then let’s leave at least one scar. I sat on the stone chair and pointed to the baby.

“There is too little warmth. I want more warmth.”

And then I stood up from my seat.

“But since Hieronymus wants it, I’ll take the warmth.”

Yes. Everything that happens from now on is what you wanted. You set up the whole system of sacrificing babies and giving blessings.

I pushed myself a little further into Rebecca Rolfe’s body.

Deep cracks still appear in the skin, and a purple mist flows out between them.

I stood up from the stone chair and walked over to where the four were gathered. I looked at my parents and asked them.

“I’ll give myself to you, but later, when you’ve finished everything, I’ll take everything you’ve got. Got it?”

Now let’s say the same thing, and the two of them answered with a big “yes” with happy faces.

First, I looked at the baby to get some warmth. The mist flowed out of my body and slowly moved towards the baby.

Two faint warmth.

The baby’s skin slowly turns blue. With a squelching sound, the body twists and the face changes. The eye sockets bulge out and the eyes multiply. Sharp horns and thorns grow from all over the body, and the skin splits and muscles bulge out.

The two babies screamed.

Meanwhile, the purple smoke passes over the baby and reaches a pair of parents. I push myself into it.

Two of them had their skin turn white. Their eyes and hair both turned purple. The man grew slightly taller and larger, while the woman’s face became more beautiful and her body shape became much more ideal.

Almost simultaneously, the changes were completed on both sides.

Now the two monsters rushed towards their parents, but the man cut the monster in half with his sharp palm, and the woman extended a tentacle from her arm and impaled the monster, killing it.

And then he looks around at his body as if he’s curious about what he’s done.

They both knelt down to me, laughing their asses off. They were just an ordinary man and woman. The man was swindled by his best friend and went bankrupt, and the woman was ostracized by the women’s group in the village because she had bad luck.

So I ran away and joined the Future Hope Church.

The two met inside and fell in love. However, that did not mean that their broken hearts returned to their original state. Rather, they thought that the Future Hope Church had given them happiness and actively became fanatics.

This is the result.

I am blessed and happy. Even if I have to sacrifice my own baby, it is nothing compared to the Hope for the Future Church.

Standing in front of those two, Jerome shouted:

“This is the blessing of our God!”

The enthusiasm of the followers of the pseudo-religion filled the altar.

In the gray-white memory, a man is complaining, but, well.

Is that more important than chasing warmth?

I want warmth.

I’ll do anything for warmth.

Anything.